Awakening The Beast
by WittyPhoenix
Summary: Harry encounters a new breed of Animagus and is thrust into their ranks, but will his new powers prove to be his undoing?   My first ever fanfic so be gentle
1. Chapter 1

In a small village in the English countryside called Smiths Grove several cloaked figures were moving swiftly down the dark high street. They were spread in a formation that was clearly pre-determined and they were all constantly looking around them and glancing back where they'd been as if expecting to be set upon at any moment.

Eventually reaching a junction in the street the group came to a stop and the leader of the pack looked left and then right before setting off again to the right at a quicker pace than before causing some members of the group who had been gazing around to have to jog to catch up. The group eventually reached a cottage that was in immense disrepair, there were several broken windows as well as missing tiles from the roof and the front door had the upper right hand section missing.

"This is it" hissed the leader of the group in a high voice "you will all do as I say and we will complete this mission with no problems. If you do not then I shall have to teach you what happens when people make me angry. Is that clear?" the person finished as they drew a wand from the folds of their cloak. The rest of the group all nodded, nervously eyeing the wand in the person's hand.

They all turned to face the house and all drew their own wands as they got into line next to each other. "Now!" cried the leader of the group and as one they all raised their wands and shot identical yellow lights at the cottage, as soon as the first spell hit the cottage it burst into flame where it had been hit and the whole building was soon covered in flames. The leader of the group began cackling with laughter and threw down the hood covering their face to reveal a woman with shining black hair and dark, heavily lidded eyes. She strode up to the house and called into the inferno "If you agree to come with us peacefully we shall do our very best to heal your burns!"

The rest of the group were laughing and pointing at the burning house with apparent glee before something very strange happened, the flames surrounding the house seemed to freeze for a split second before they were sucked in thin golden arcs into the house through a hole in the roof leaving the house slightly blackened but still standing. The group stopped laughing immediately before turning to their leader, one of them stepped forward "Bellatrix, what do we do now?" the man asked before he was suddenly knocked off his feet and bleeding from a deep gash that had appeared on his chest.

The rest of the group looked in fear at the woman called Bellatrix who was pointing her wand at the fallen man "What sort of cowardly question is that!" she shrieked "We go in there and capture that piece of scum by force!" She turned on her heel and marched towards the cottage with the rest of her group trailing fearfully behind her before she suddenly stopped and stared at the little building as the front door slowly opened.

A man stepped out onto the house's decrepit porch; he wore a simple white buttoned shirt and black jeans with dark boots. His face was still in shadow as he faced the would-be arsonists. "May I help you?" he said in a quiet but clear voice

Bellatrix smirked "Yes you may. The Dark Lord requires your services and I am under orders to escort you to him" she said pleasantly "Whether you want to or not" she finished, no longer smiling.

The man didn't answer; he simply stood there watching Bellatrix and the other Death Eaters who were beginning to form a circle around him. The man didn't move an inch but instead sighed.

Bellatrix was losing her temper "You will either peacefully comply with the Dark Lords wishes or we will drag you with us half dead! Believe me if the Dark Lord hadn't expressed how important you were to his plans I'd already have you writhing in pain on the floor" she sneered at him.

"I'm afraid I have no intention of going with you, or complying with Voldemorts wishes" the man said taking a small step forward

Bellatrix's eyes widened and she snarled at the man as she aimed her wand and shrieked "_Crucio_!"

The man immediately dropped to the floor in a squat as the curse flew over his head and hit the wall behind him setting it alight once again, the other death eaters charged forward together and started throwing spells at the man who quickly flipped to the right out of there way and then straightened up and held up his hand, he flicked his fingers forward causing a fireball to leap out of the flames Bellatrix's spell had caused. It flew quickly at the group of death eaters and hit one square in the chest and exploded catching some others in it who all fell to the ground either dead or unconscious but all sporting terrible burns. The man flicked his fingers forward a few more times to take out the remaining death eaters until only Bellatrix was left.

"Tell your boss that I won't go as easy on you if you come for me again" said the man as flames engulfed his hand.

"Your time will come!" screamed Bellatrix pointing at him "The Dark Lord will make you suffer for your crimes against him!" she then turned sharply and dissapparated

The man let the fire on his hand disappear and then with a wave of his hand the fire consuming the wall was extinguished. He put his hands in his pockets and sighed "looks like I'm moving again" he said as he turned to go back inside.

In a darkened room a skull faced man sat in a throne, staring at the huge double doors at the opposite side of the room waiting for them to open. Every so often a huge snake would slither into view as it moved around the room before it slunk back into the shadows of the room. Voldemorts red eyes swept around the room once before the double doors burst open and Bellatrix marched in before throwing herself to the floor in front of the throne. "My Lord, I'm afraid the mission to capture the-"

"Enough Bella" Voldemort cut across her in a low voice "I know of your failure"

"It's not surprising" laughed a female voice from the shadows behind Voldemorts chair "sending this little girl after him you stood no chance" Bellatrix scowled but held her silence as an unnatural coldness swept over her "he's too powerful for beings such as you, as is the boy" the voice continued with a small titter "that is why we are here…"

Miles away a boy called Harry Potter woke up suddenly with a yell and promptly fell out of bed. He froze for a second listening intently to make sure he hadn't woke his uncle in the next room. Hearing nothing he quietly detangled himself from his duvet and got up and crossed to the window, he rested his forehead on the cool glass to lessen the pain in the lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead but then he realised that there was no pain. So used to waking up with his scar hurting and his head filled with horrific visions of Voldemort that it was quite a shock to find that it wasn't old snake face that had woken him, but then what was it?

He cast his mind back to when he had been sleeping to try to remember what he had seen to wake him up in such a way. He closed his eyes and strained his mind; a dark shape swam into focus in his mind's eye. It moved forward and it became a bit clearer that it was some sort of animal with four legs and a tail, suddenly two appendages burst from its back and beat the ground as a burst of flame came forth and Harry opened his eyes. What had that been about? Well it certainly wasn't Voldemort that's for sure he thought. But for some reason it seemed familiar to Harry, it seemed like it wasn't new to him although it clearly was.

Confused Harry moved over to his desk and picked up the closest thing on it, which happened to be a copy of the _Daily Prophet. _Although the Prophet had been doing its best to disgrace Harry in the past few weeks since he had arrived back at Hogwarts clutching the body of Cedric Diggory and claiming to have seen Lord Voldemort rise again he still felt that it was worth getting so he knew at least some of the things that were going on in the wizarding world, despite the various jabs at himself and Dumbledore every few pages. Although Harry was grateful to Dumbledore for believing him it was difficult not to get annoyed at the good professor for sending him back to his so called family, cutting him off entirely from world he belonged to and then asking Harry to sit tight and let him handle it.

Harry quickly stopped that train of thought before he got too angry; he'd dwelled on these thoughts too many times in the past two weeks. It was only because of his friends writing to him whenever they could since they'd all gone home for the summer that he'd stayed sane. Ron's latest letter had gone like this:

_Harry,_

_The cannons lost again at the weekend but they only lost by 30 points, 30 points! They shouldn't have lost in my opinion because the Kenmare Kestrels were playing at home which obviously gave them the advantage. Anyway hope you're ok? And the muggles are treating you well? You read the Prophet lately? They keep saying you're lying about You-Know-Who and that you're just saying it for all the attention. Like you'd do that! You wouldn't use You-Know-Who to get more fame everyone knows that. Don't listen to them mate._

_Anyway I'll write again soon but I'm kinda busy at the moment, dad says we're going somewhere soon but won't say where._

_From Ron_

These letters from Ron were a little annoying for Harry, he was grateful to Ron for sticking up for him against the Prophet but he didn't need reminding of it all the time in such a tactless way.  
The letters from Hermione didn't come as often as Ron's because it turned out she was on holiday.

_Harry,_

_I really hope you're doing okay and your relatives aren't treating you bad. I'm currently on holiday in Spain visiting my Nan; she has a villa here so we can come here quite cheap. I've been trying to research Spanish wizarding customs a little, but mostly I've just been on the beach with my mum. I did find a cluster of magical shops but there weren't very many books there so we didn't stay long._

_Oh I told my Nan about being a witch, we haven't visited her since the year before I started at the Hogwarts, she took it quite well but I don't think she realised I was serious but oh well._

_I've finished all my homework of course. Hope you have too._

_If you have any strange dreams again or problems with… what happened, I'm here if you want to talk about it._

_Love, Hermione_

_P.S Ron says that he's moving somewhere, any idea where?_

Harry smiled when he thought about this; Hermione at least understood he didn't need reminding of the whole world being against him. He considered writing back to Hermione about the strange creature in his dream but decided against it, he was pretty sure it wasn't Voldemort so there was no point in worrying Hermione over what could have been just a normal dream.

Harry moved back over to his bed to look at the clock, he saw that it was almost 4.30 in the morning. Yawning slightly upon this discovery he lay back down and pulled the covers back onto himself and waited for sleep to take him again, as his mind began to close down an image arose once again in his mind's eye of several cloaked figures wearing Death Eater masks that were cowering in front of a towering figure that had a long face, a tail and two appendages coming out of its back, the creature roared an ear splitting roar and Harry awoke and promptly fell out of bed once again.

"Bloody hell" muttered Harry as he picked himself up from the floor for the second time that night; as Harry threw the blankets back on the bed he heard a small noise behind him, slowly turning around he was confronted with a swan sized bird silhouetted against the street lamp outside sitting on his window sill facing him. The bird spread its wings and beat the air a couple of times to move it across from the window sill to the edge of the bed, now that the light wasn't behind it Harry saw that the bird was crimson red with flecks of gold and had a long magnificent tail, a Phoenix. Harry stared for a moment and the thought floated through his head that this was Dumbledore's phoenix Fawkes, but then he noticed a feather on the right hand side its head that was a deep blue which he was positive Fawkes never had.

"Err…" started Harry before he blinked and a man was sat where the Phoenix was sat a moment before, he wore a simple white buttoned shirt and black jeans with dark boots and his hair was long and unruly looking as well as jet black just like Harry's with a deep blue streak in it on the right hand side. His eyes were a golden colour and shone through the darkness as he smiled at Harry who was too shocked to speak.

"I'm guessing you'd like an explanation?" he said


	2. Chapter 2

"Err…yeah" Harry finally got out. He backed away from the man slightly towards his bed side table and discreetly picked up his wand and gripped it hard ready to defend himself from this unknown person that had somehow silently penetrated the blood wards around the Dursley home.

The man's smile widened for a second before he said "Good thinking picking up your wand, I did after all just sneak into your house in the middle of the night. But I promise you I'm a friend"  
Harry nodded but didn't relax his grip on his wand "Perhaps I should start explaining why I'm here?" asked the man, Harry nodded again.

"My name is Jericho Ignis, and last night I was…visited by a woman you may know called Bellatrix Lestrange" Harry frowned at this "She and some other Death Eaters attempted to burn my house down and take me captive" continued Jericho "I managed to drive them away with little difficulty but afterwards I had to find out exactly why they wanted me. You see I haven't really been a part of society for a very long time and it seemed unlikely that Voldemort would have been able to discover me" Harry's frown deepened here, Jericho only looked to be in his mid-twenties but he was talking like he'd been on the run for years. Harry broke this trail of thought for now when he heard Jericho start speaking again "I managed to follow Bellatrix back to her master's house and I learnt a couple of things that concern you I'm afraid"

_Several hours ago_

Jericho landed covered in flames in a courtyard that was thankfully empty, the flames on his body quickly extinguished themselves and he set of towards a side door that led into a large fortress that from Jericho's point of view was silhouetted against the moon. Peaking around the edge of the door Jericho saw that the corridor on the other side of the door was empty so he quickly and quietly moved down it until coming to some stairs going up. After finally getting to the top of the extensive set of stairs Jericho crouched down as he heard voices in the room ahead of him.

"I wonder what the Dark Lord will do to her?" said one voice

"Who knows" said another "she is one of his favourites but she did fail an important mission, the Dark Lord won't be pleased"

Lifting his head slightly Jericho saw that the room was an entrance hall of some kind with a few statues of poised snakes around the edges, a door to his right, a balcony through some French windows to his left and two black robed Death Eaters were standing in front of a large pair of double doors directly across form him, this seemed promising to Jericho so raising a finger and pointing it at a corner away from the door Jericho shot a small burst of fire. It hit the wall and caused a small flash, the two Death Eaters turned and hurried to the corner to see what had caused the light just as Jericho dashed out from the stairs and out onto the balcony, it overlooked a cliff which had a forest and lake at the bottom and in the distance Jericho could see a large mountain but looking to the right he saw that there was a window into the room behind the two double doors, he climbed onto the balcony ledge just as he heard the two Death Eaters debating whether to tell their master what they'd seen but luckily they decided against it on the grounds that Voldemort would kill them on the spot for interrupting his meeting because of 'a small flash'.

Jericho held his breath and then jumped across to the window ledge and managed to get his right foot onto it but the ledge was too small and he began to fall before his right hand transformed into a yellow talon which he dug into the stone wall to stop himself from falling, he looked in the window and saw that he was looking down into a darkened room in which Bellatrix was bowing down to a man sat in a throne that had to be Voldemort. Letting out his held breath he transformed his other hand and slid one of his claws into the gap under the window to unlock it and then slowly opened it a sliver so he could hear what was being said.

"It's not surprising" laughed a female voice "sending this little girl after him you stood no chance" Bellatrix scowled as Jericho tried to find the source of the female voice "he's too powerful for beings such as you, as is the boy" the voice continued with a small titter "that is why we are here, to help you capture Jericho Ignis and especially Harry Potter before he discovers his powers as an Awakened Animagus"

_Back in the present_

"An _Awakened_ Animagus?" repeated Harry thoroughly confused

"Yes, it is an Animagus that has managed to communicate with the animal within themselves and has been given their animal's skills and abilities even while in human form" explained Jericho "For example someone with a dog for an Animagus form would have a heightened sense of smell and hearing even when they are not transformed or someone who was a cat Animagus would have lightning fast reflexes and amazing vision. And they can also transform just certain parts of their body rather than all of it such as just the claws or a tail. You get the idea."

Harry nodded "So how come they think I'm an Awakened Animagus? I'm not even a regular Animagus"

"Well as you know every witch or wizard has the potential to become an Animagus which means they can transform into an animal" Harry nodded "well some people's Animagus form, such as my own, is that of a magical animal"

Harry's eyes grew round "Y-you mean that Phoenix that was here a second ago…that was you?"

Jericho nodded "I could prove it if you like?"

"A-alright" stuttered Harry

Jericho stood and moved into the middle of the room and spread his arms wide and for a second nothing happened, suddenly he began to shrink and crimson feathers sprouted all over his body and a moment later a Phoenix with a blue feather on its head was hovering where Jericho was stood a moment ago.

Harry's jaw dropped and he gaped for several seconds before finding his voice again "That's incredible…I mean I never thought that people could transform into magical animals, I've never heard of it. Professor McGonagall did a lesson on Animagi in Transfiguration but she never mentioned that this was possible"

"No she probably doesn't know" said Jericho once he'd transformed back "What I mean is that the transformation into magical creatures has been considered a myth for at least five hundred years, the reason being that the Wizards Council which came before the Ministry of Magic made a law stating that anyone with the ability to transform into a magical creature is to be imprisoned immediately because they are too powerful to be controlled. This law is still in effect because no one has bothered to get rid of it because it hasn't been used for so long. Anyone that discovered they could transform into a magical creature since this law was put into place has wisely kept it quiet but those with this ability have become immensely rare. However those that are Awakened Animagi can sense other Awakened Animagi and those that can transform into magical creatures are already Awakened Animagi. With me so far?" he asked

"So you're saying that the people working with Voldemort know I'm an Awakened Animagus because they are too and they can sense it?" asked Harry as he tried to get it all straight in his head

"Yes that's the only explanation I can think of, of course that implies you've met one of them before for them to sense your power but we'll worry about that later" confirmed Jericho but not really reassuring Harry "So as you might've worked out now this means that your animal form is something magical in order for you to already be an Awakened Animagus for them to sense"

This had occurred to Harry and he found himself thinking back to the dreams that had woken him and he felt like they were connected to this, he decided to get Jericho's view on this idea.

"I've had a couple of weird dreams lately, about a strange animal that I couldn't quite see. They seemed like I was really there with this animal but I've always woken up before anything that might shed light on it happened" explained Harry

Jericho smiled "That was your inner animal trying to talk to you. It happens when your mind is at ease and not really thinking such as when you're asleep but for you to hear it you must try to communicate with it in turn which you can't really do when your asleep"

Harry nodded again as he tried to think what the shadowy creature in his dreams could be.

"Anyway all this brings me back to the reason I've come here" said Jericho snapping Harry back to reality "you are obviously in danger, I know you usually are considering your Harry Potter but I am offering to take you with me to train you to access and use your Animagus powers plus of course Voldemorts forces won't know where you are"

Surprised Harry thought about this, on the one hand all he had was Jericho's word that all this was true. It did make sense and it was no lie that Jericho could transform into a Phoenix, Harry couldn't think of a spell that could fake that and he would really like to learn more about his inner animal, and above all there was something about Jericho that Harry couldn't help trusting, he reminded him of Hagrid when he had first told Harry he was a wizard and although it was unbelievable he had believed Hagrid.  
But then Harry thought of what Jericho had said about Voldemorts forces coming for him before he discovered his powers, that meant they'd come for him as soon as possible and what if they tried getting him at Hogwarts but when he wasn't there? they'd want to know where he was and that meant his friends would get hurt and that was something he couldn't allow.

"I'm sorry Jericho, I am tempted by your offer but I can't leave when there's a good chance Voldemort will attack my friends in an attempt to find me" said Harry

"I understand completely but if you trained your powers you could defend your fiends much more efficiently" argued Jericho

"I can't defend them if I'm not there. I'm sorry" said Harry in a tone of finality

Jericho sighed "Very well, it is your choice after all and I won't try to force you. If you ever change your use set this alight" he reached into his shirt and withdrew a red feather which he handed to Harry "but now I must go, goodbye Harry" he turned and then disappeared in a burst of flame, just as Harry had seen Fawkes do several times in Dumbledore's office.

Harry moved over to his bed and collapsed onto it and sighed. Once again he considered writing to Hermione to tell her about everything but again decided against it, he knew she'd want him to find his Animagus form especially since it was something so rare and useful but he wasn't so sure she would understand why he had decided not to go with Jericho and would argue for it until Harry caved and he knew he'd cave, if Hermione was the one persuading him.

"So when are you planning on going after Harry Potter?" said a tall dark haired woman who was standing in a dark drawing room examining a book.

"When the boy is at his relatives house I cannot touch him, the same can be said when he is at Hogwarts. Therefore my plan is to attack during his journey back to school" hissed Voldemort who was stood staring through a window and idly stroking the head of a great snake that was draped across his shoulders.

"Sound plan" smiled the woman glancing at him "will you be requiring help from my people?"

"I think not. A train full of children, one driver and an old woman that sells sweets from a trolley do not present much of a threat to me" said Voldemort in the same hiss

The woman laughed "Maybe not to you but what about your 'Death Eaters'?" she said making quotation marks with her hands as she said the name of the Dark Lords followers.

"I shall overlook your disrespect" the woman snorted "but if my followers fail me they will die, it is as simple as that" he replied

The woman nodded with a smirk on her face "Fair enough" her face then turned serious "remember you get to kill Harry Potter…but I get his soul before you do" as she put down the book she had been reading bits of ice fell from where her fingers had touched it.

"I remember our agreement" said Voldemort in a dangerous voice

The woman chuckled "Good" she said and then walked out of the room leaving Lord Voldemort alone with his thoughts.

Author Note

I hope the Animagus explanation isn't too confusing. I'm hoping to get at LEAST one chapter up every 2 days at most but obviously things happen but that's the goal.

Thanks for reviews they really spur me on


	3. Chapter 3

The next week past by quite quickly for Harry, nothing of great interest happened aside from more dreams about his inner animal and Dudley falling down the stairs on Saturday morning and breaking and falling through them into the cupboard under the stairs, Harry thanked every deity there was that he didn't sleep under there anymore and that he'd been there to witness one of the funniest memories he had from the Dursley household.

Unfortunately Harry was given the task of repairing the stairs as Uncle Vernon had said "I'm not getting ripped off by some cowboy builder" before thrusting a hammer and some nails into Harry's stomach.

Two days after Dudley falling through the stairs Harry had repaired the hole under the stairs (badly) but couldn't think how to fix the stairs themselves and eventually resigned himself to telling his uncle this.

"What do you mean you can't fix it!" roared Uncle Vernon completely drowning out the explosion on the film he and Dudley had been watching

"I mean I'm an almost fifteen year old boy, I'm not a builder" explained Harry

"Humph" snorted Vernon "I can't believe you can come out with these excuses when all I ask is a small favour"

Harry snorted at this statement causing Uncle Vernon to jump out his chair and march over to Harry and push his face into Harrys

"Don't you dare smirk at me boy" he hissed "You have a home because of mine and your aunt's kindness and you can't even repay us in the smallest way"

"I don't think renovating parts of the house is that small to be honest" blurted out Harry without thinking

Vernon's eyes bulged "Don't speak to me like that!" he pulled his arm back and made a fist but at the last second before he made contact with Harry's face he stopped with a look of fear on his face

"W-what are you doing boy?" he said in a shaky voice and pointing at Harry

"What?" said Harry blankly "Nothing, what are you talking about?"

"You know full well you aren't permitted to use…you-know-what in my house!" Vernon bellowed "Now stop it this instant and…and go to your room!" he finished somewhat lamely

"I don't know what you're talking about!" argued Harry "I haven't used magic!"

Vernon went pale "Don't…say…that…word!" he hissed and glanced around the room, presumably for hidden microphones "and don't lie to me! Now get upstairs!"

Feeling that it was pointless to argue anymore Harry turned and headed out of the living room and up the stairs, jumping the hole halfway, and into his bedroom

Why had uncle Vernon thought he'd been using magic? Harry was pretty sure he hadn't been and in any case nothing had happened as far as he could tell, so what had Uncle Vernon been talking about?

Deciding to worry about it later, if at all, Harry moved across to his trunk and dug out a book to read. At least he hadn't been forced to fix the stairs he thought as he sat on his bed.

If he had looked into the mirror when he had come in he would have seen that his normally startlingly green eyes were glowing a bright purple.

* * *

_Hermione,_

_Thanks for your letter, they really keep me going. Hope you're enjoying your holiday and that you find some books soon._

_I'm fine, my aunt and uncle are treating me like normal. But I've mostly just kept out of there way._

_I haven't actually finished all my homework but I promise I'll finish it before we go back to Hogwarts._

_No dreams so far_

_Love, Harry_

_P.S Not sure about Ron_

Hermione read through Harry's reply once again trying to find something that just wasn't there, and that's what worried her.

It had been about a month since Harry had seen Voldemort return and Cedric murdered and he hadn't mentioned it at all to her, she knew he hadn't talked to Ron about it because for one Ron would have written her straight away with worries that Harry was losing it and for two you don't talk to Ron about stuff like that because he thinks you're losing it.

Hermione was afraid that her best friend was bottling up all his emotions and that couldn't be healthy for him in so many ways, and being in the company of his 'family' wouldn't help either. All in all it was very hard for Hermione to enjoy Spain, and was very glad that next week she would be going back to England and more importantly to Diagon Alley for her school supplies where even more importantly she would hopefully see Harry.

It hadn't escaped the notice of Jessica Granger that her only child had been very preoccupied since coming home from school, at first she had decided to give her space and see if she came around but it was clear by now that wasn't going to happen and so Jessica decided she had to talk to Hermione. And she took the opportunity to on their last day in Spain when the two of them were reading on the beach and Jack Granger was swimming in the sea.

"Hermione?" said Jessica putting down her book

"Hmm?" replied Hermione not looking up from her own book

"Is everything alright at school?" Jessica asked

Hermione slowly lowered her book before answering her mum "yeah of course"

"It's just you seem very distant since coming home, I know me and your dad are just "muggles" but we still love you and want to help you with whatever problems you have. I know it's your life and everything but I'm your mum and it makes me worry when I see you like this and don't know why" explained Jessica

Tears had begun welling up in Hermione's eyes "I don't mean to make you worry mum" she said quietly "and don't worry I'm not in trouble or anything" she was sure her mother's ideas of trouble on this matter were different to her own, and definitely didn't involve an insane Dark Lord brought back to life, and Hermione had no intention of enlightening her "the thing is…well, you know my friend Harry that I've told you about?"

Jessica nodded; "it's a boy" she thought and smiled inwardly to herself

"Well last term he saw something...um…quite horrifying. A student was killed in an…accident and Harry saw it happen" she hated lying to her mum and about what happened to Cedric but she couldn't tell the truth for fear that she'd be pulled from Hogwarts, and she couldn't let that happen while Harry still needed her.

"Oh my" gasped Jessica "what happened?"

"I don't know exactly err… " Hermione couldn't do it; she couldn't lie about everything especially to her mum. So she found herself breaking down in tears and telling her mum everything about her magical life.

Jessica was more shocked than she'd ever been in her whole life and scared for her daughter too, she had always had a feeling that her Hermione was keeping things secret about her life at Hogwarts but this was nothing like what she'd expected.

"Harry is such a good person but he's had such a hard life and can't get away from all these bad things but I think that I help him to at least keep going" explained Hermione tearfully "Please don't take me out of Hogwarts, I need to be there to help my friends and if I can't do that then I don't know what…"

Jessica looked at her little girl and saw that she had become a young woman without her noticing, and she had already found her purpose in life, it was to save the world alongside Harry Potter.

* * *

On July 31st Harry received four birthday cards one each from Hermione, the Weasleys, Sirius and Hagrid. As well as a cake from Mrs Weasley Harry got a book from Hermione called _Beat Their Shield Charm _which was all about duelling tactics and another book from Hagrid entitled _Dragon Breeds Across The World _which Harry found really interesting, even if he didn't wish to keep one as a pet.

Finally the end of August arrived with just a week left until Harry went back to Hogwarts, but Harry still hadn't been to get his school supplies and decided he would have to ask his Uncle to take him.

"Umm Uncle Vernon?" began Harry when he came down to breakfast on Friday

"What?" Vernon grunted

"Um well I have to go- but just then he was cut off by a large brown owl soaring in through the open patio doors and dropping a letter in front of Harry

He bent down and picked it up as Uncle Vernon stomped across to the doors and slammed them shut

The address on the front was written in an untidy scrawl that Harry had no trouble recognising, he quickly opened it and read the letter inside

_Harry_

_Professor Dumbledore has asked me to come get you from your relatives and take you to Diagon Alley for your school supplies, he thought you might have trouble getting there otherwise._

_I'll pick you up tomorrow at 1_

_Just like old times eh!_

_Hagrid_

A smile spread quickly onto Harrys face and a rush of relief swept across that he wouldn't have to ask his uncle to take him to London.

"What's it about boy?" asked Vernon with narrowed eyes

"Oh it's just that giant bloke that came to take me to Hogwarts on my eleventh birthday" all three Dursleys went pale "he's coming to pick me up from here tomorrow to take me to London for some stuff I need"

Dudley suddenly clamped his hands onto his massive behind and Petunia gave a small squeak before jumping up and started scrubbing the draining board furiously with a piece of toast.  
"Wh-wh-when is he coming?" stuttered Vernon

"Tomorrow at one" replied Harry smiling broadly, both at the prospect of going to Diagon Alley with Hagrid and the effect his visit was having on the Dursleys

Uncle Vernon nodded dumbly and started to read the newspaper upside down. Harry smirked and grabbed a piece of toast and left the kitchen heading up to his bedroom. He had a sneaking suspicion Hagrid had sent the letter during breakfast purposely.

The next day Harry came downstairs to find the tensest atmosphere he had ever experienced. Normally when someone was expected at the Dursley household Petunia would be cleaning the entire house until the second they arrived but not today, she was stood in the kitchen against the sink completely rigid as if someone had cast a _petrificus totalus_ on her. Uncle Vernon was marching around the house with no obvious destination in mind, he just kept walking, in one room and then out again to another. Dudley was nowhere to be seen and Harry hadn't seen him in his bedroom so he assumed he must have gone out as early as possible.

At 12.30 Uncle Vernon stopped walking from room to room and began pacing the living room instead, Aunt Petunia still hadn't moved from the sink. Harry had decided to wait in his bedroom as he couldn't take the tension downstairs but at five to 1 he came back downstairs. Walking into the living room he found both his Aunt and Uncle staring at the clock on the mantelpiece and seemed to take a deep breath after every minute that passed.

Finally when there was 30 seconds to go both Dursleys took their deepest breath yet and held it as the clock ticked down. 3…2…1…

_Ding-Dong _

"Eeeeek" shrieked Aunt Petunia while Uncle Vernon said some bad words. Harry fought not to laugh as he went to see who had rang the doorbell, he opened the door to find a pair of very large legs and a huge belt with the bottom half of a beard showing before the doorway stopped.

"Alright 'Arry!" bellowed Hagrid as he scooped Harry up into a rib smashing hug

"Hagrid…Air! Air!" gasped Harry

"Oops sorry mate" muttered Hagrid as he put Harry down again "its good ter see ya'!"

"Yeah you too" beamed Harry "Thanks for coming to get me"

Hagrid smiled then his eyes flicked over Harrys head and back again before he said "I was gonna come in an' say hello ter yur aunt an' uncle but it don' look like they'd survive it"

Harry turned and saw his aunt and uncles chalk white faces poking round the living room door. Harry chuckled and Hagrid joined in. "Right, come on 'Arry let's be off. Don' worry 'bout yur trunk"

Harry nodded knowing his trunk would meet him wherever he was going. He turned and waved to his aunt and uncle "bye" he said before stepping outside and closing the door behind him.

He and Hagrid set off down the street with Harry walking quickly to keep up with Hagrid; he noticed a lot of the Dursleys neighbours peering through their windows at Hagrid with gormless expressions. Harry chuckled at the visits the Dursleys were probably going to get now off their nosy neighbours.

Finally arriving at the end of the street Hagrid threw out his right arm and the Knight bus appeared in front of them.

"All right Hagrid?" said Stan the conductor

"Not bad Stan" answered Hagrid and then pushed Harry forward a little as Stan's eyes went wide and raked Harry's hair line. Hagrid paid and sat in one of the plush arm chairs and suddenly they were off, jumping from county to county on their way to Diagon alley.

After falling out of his armchair many times Harry arrived at the Leaky Cauldron with Hagrid, who hadn't had the same problem with the chairs, and they both entered the dark pub.

There were a few friendly greetings thrown at Hagrid and a few disdainful looks thrown at Harry but he followed Hagrid through the pub and into the back just the same, he was used to students looking at him like that what difference did it make if they were twenty years or so older.

After opening the archway and stepping onto the cobbled street Harry began to smile as memories of his eleventh birthday came back to him.

About an hour later Harry and Hagrid left an apothecary laden down with packages. They started back up the street towards the exit. "Best get back ter 'eadquarters" muttered Hagrid looking at his pocket watch.

Harry looked up "What do you mean?"

"Once we're done 'ere I've gotta take ya to 'eadquarters. Dumbledore says you'll be safe there 'till ya go back ter school, but I can' talk about it here 'Arry. Later" promised Hagrid, Harry nodded.

After exiting Diagon alley and the Leaky Cauldron Hagrid led Harry through the streets of London where the finally entered a rundown area of houses. Hagrid strode across a patch of unkempt grass towards houses number 11 and 13, Harry looked around as he saw this looking for number 12 but it wasn't anywhere to be found.

Hagrid stopped and turned to Harry while rummaging through his coat pockets "hang on a min 'Arry" he said still searching through his coat "ah got it" and he pulled a piece of crumped parchment from an inside pocket and handed it to Harry "read that and then think about it"

Harry uncrumpled the parchment and read:

_The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix can be found at Number 12 Grimmauld Place _

"Read it?" asked Hagrid

"Yeah, what's the Order-"began Harry but Hagrid quickly put his massive hand over Harrys mouth, and the rest of his face, and looked around fearfully

"Hang on 'Arry, in a min" he said "think about what it said"

Harry thought and no sooner had he finished that a new house inflated itself in between number 12 and 13, Harry gaped as Hagrid pushed him forwards towards the newly formed house.

Harry opened the door and stepped inside with encouragement from Hagrid in the form of several pushes that would topple an elephant, so Harry sped up out of Hagrid's reach.

Harry found himself in the most depressing hallway that he'd ever seen. Harry moved deeper into the house while Hagrid shut the door, just as he was inspecting an umbrella stand that seemed to be a severed trolls leg a door to the right of him opened and two blurs rushed out, one red and one brown, and tackled him "Harry!" Hermione and Ginny squealed at once from somewhere above him.

Suddenly a voice rent the air shouting insults and threats to everyone present, Harry looked around expecting to see Voldemort stood at the top of the stairs but instead he saw an old woman in a painting pointing down at them all.

"Bloody paintin" grumbled Hagrid as he stomped up the stairs and grabbed the curtains either side of the painting and yanked them shut

Harry finally disentangled himself from Hermione and Ginny and got up "What was that about?" he asked

"Sorry, we were just so glad to see you…" muttered Hermione blushing furiously

Harry looked her blankly for a second and then said "No I meant the painting" jabbing his thumb at the offending object

"Oh" Hermione squeaked as Ginny giggled "that was…"

"My mum" said a male voice coming from the door Hermione and Ginny had come through, Harry peered over their heads and saw his godfather Sirius Black stood leaning against the door frame "nice welcome eh" he said winking and nodding at the two girls in front of him

For a second Harry was confused by this statement but then something clicked and he went red and stared intently at the floor. Sirius let out a bark like laugh and moved towards his godson.

"Welcome to my home Harry" he said as he gave Harry a one armed hug

"Your home?" said Harry surprised

"Yup, it used to be my dear mothers" he pointed at the curtains at the top of the stairs "but now she's dead and gone its mine and now it's being used as the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix"

"Which is…?" asked Harry

"The good people fighting against Voldemort and his friends" said Sirius

Just as Harry was about to ask the millions of questions that had just occurred to him when Molly Weasley entered the hallway "Sirius who set your mother off…?" she said before catching sight of Hagrid on the stairs and then scanned the small crowd before finding Harry "Oh Harry dear" she moved forward and pulled him into an embrace "I'm glad your finally here, but I came out here to fetch Sirius back to the meeting so we'll have to see you later at dinner ok" and she went back though the door and he heard he descend some steps

Sirius shrugged at Harry and followed her and Hagrid followed him.

Harry made to follow them too but Hermione pulled him back "We aren't allowed in the meetings Harry; it's just for order members"

Harry frowned "So what were you two doing in there?"

"Umm well…the meeting had only just started and…we were just leaving" said Hermione lamely

Ginny however smirked "We were trying to listen in to the meeting, on orders from Fred and George"

Harry smirked too and looked at Hermione "I never would have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes…Hermione Granger, eavesdropping" he laughed

"Shut up, we should know what's going on" she huffed

"Yeah ok" said Harry still smiling before changing the subject "Where's Ron?" he asked

"He's upstairs" said Ginny "mum sent up some sandwiches and he hasn't left them alone since"

Harry laughed again as the three of them set off up the stairs

Finally coming to a stop outside a door two floors up Ginny lead the way inside where they found Ron with a sandwich in one hand and a book in the other which was a strange sight, the book not the sandwich. When they entered he quickly stashed the book under the pillow on his bed.

"Harry! How you doing?" he exclaimed

"I'm fine, you?

"Yeah" said Ron smiling

The rest of the afternoon the four friends spent catching up with each other and Ron got Harry to play him at chess a few times.

Hermione had watched Harry since he had arrived and was pleased that he was ok, but she saw the troubled look that came to his face whenever he thought no one was looking. She really needed to get him to open up soon.

* * *

Authors Note

I tried my best to capture Hagrid's unique speech pattern but I'm not sure I did it justice

Something I just want to clarify is that Ron was reading a BOOK and I will come back to why he hid it so please don't get the wrong idea

Again please keep the reviews coming, your all awesome


	4. Chapter 4

The last week of the holidays was spent trying to listen into order meetings, cleaning number 12 and just generally hanging out. Harry had met Nymphadora Tonks the day after he had arrived and had immediately took a liking to her despite her punching him in the chest the first time he called her by her first name.

Harry was happy he was back with the people he cared about, he found that he had less nightmares involving Cedric when he'd been hard at play with the others and although he would be glad to be back at Hogwarts he would miss these times.

On the last day of the holidays Mrs Weasley cooked a big dinner to see everyone off in good spirits. After three helpings of the roast chicken Harry was feeling very full and sleepy as was everyone else.

"Well I think I'll head up" declared Mr Weasley getting up and stretching

There were various noises of agreement as everyone got up and shuffled through the kitchen door and upstairs. Harry was one of the last ones through and he found himself walking beside Hermione up the stairs, reaching the second landing Harry turned to her "Night 'Mione" he yawned

Hermione smiled and blush a little despite herself "Night Harry" she said as he went into the bedroom he shared with Ron

Hermione carried on up another set of stairs towards hers and Ginny's bedroom, but didn't go in instead she leaned against the wall and sighed. She'd wanted to ask Harry if he was really ok but she couldn't bring herself to ruin the content mood he was in and the happy bubbled that had inflated inside her when he had called her Mione.

Tomorrow, she would talk to him tomorrow. And with that decided she went into the bedroom and tip toed across to her bed so as to not wake Ginny who must have fallen asleep instantly.

* * *

The next morning Harry woke early in preparation for the trip to Kings Cross, it hadn't escaped his notice in previous years that the Weasleys were always on the last push to get on the train on time.

Harry had just finished packing up all his things in his trunk when Ron woke suddenly with a snort.

"Morning sunshine" grinned Harry

Ron yawned "What time is it?"

"About eight" replied Harry fastening the straps on his trunk

"What you getting ready for then!" Ron exclaimed

"So I'm not rushing around at the last minute" Harry answered as he dragged his trunk towards the door "Coming?" he asked as he opened the door

"Nope" said Ron shortly and let his head fall back onto his pillow

Harry smirked and went out onto the landing but stopped at the top of the stairs, getting his trunk down them would be difficult without making noise which would wake up Mrs Blacks portrait which in turn would wake everyone in the house and he didn't want that, so instead he put his trunk and Hedwig's cage against the wall near the top of the stairs then crept downstairs and into the kitchen. Inside he found Mr and Mrs Weasley, Sirius and Tonks sitting drinking coffee.

"Wotcher Harry" smiled Tonks

"Morning Harry dear, you're up early" said Mrs Weasley

"I just figured that I'd get my stuff ready to go so I'm not rushing later" shrugged Harry

"Good thinking" nodded Mr Weasley "I wish we could get Ron and the Twins to think like that"

"Like what?" asked Ginny who had just walked in with Hermione behind her

"Never mind, are you packed?" said Mrs Weasley

"Yep, our trunks are in the hall" said Ginny getting some juice

"Mine too, cept it's at the top of the stairs" said Harry "I didn't want to wake anyone"

Mrs Weasley smiled "Right I'll go get the boys up then we can set of for Kings Cross"

When Mrs Weasley returned she was followed by Ron, Fred and George all looking very sleepy. Mr Weasley shrunk their trunks for them and everyone stowed them away in a pocket.

"Take care of yourself Harry" said Sirius just as they were about to leave "Everybody's in the same boat now Voldemorts back but don't do anything stupid…well not too stupid" he winked

Everyone stepped out into the sun, Harry carrying Hedwig in her cage and Hermione carrying her kneazle Crookshanks in his basket, and they set off into London, Grimmauld place wasn't that far from Kings Cross, with almost an hour and half to spare.

Finally arriving at Kings Cross everyone made for the barrier between platforms 9 and 10 and in twos they casually strolled through it and onto Platform 9¾.

The Weasleys, Harry, Hermione and Tonks all moved through the crowds towards the bright red steam engine. They all took out their trunks and Mr Weasley restored them to full size.

"Have a lovely term all of you, keep out of trouble" said Mrs Weasley as she hugged everyone

"We'll probably see you all at Christmas" said Mr Weasley

"Can't wait to see you all again" said Tonks who was also giving out hugs

After all the goodbyes were exchanged everyone who was going boarded the train and leaned out of the window to wave goodbye to Mr and Mrs Weasley and Tonks who dissapparated just as the train rounded a corner.

* * *

"I've got a free compartment here" said Ron from a little along the corridor

Harry and Hermione dragged their trunks in after Ron. Ginny went off to find her friends and Fred and George said they were going to do some "market research"

The journey went on as they got closer and closer to Hogwarts and Hermione decided that now was the time "Harry can I talk to you outside for a sec?" she said and got up

"Err yeah" said Harry clearly confused

They both stepped out into the corridor and moved away from the door "What's up Mione?" asked Harry

Hermione smiled for a second before turning serious "I wanted to talk to you about what happened with Cedric and how you're dealing with it"

Harry frowned "What do you mean?"

"I know that you haven't dealt with it properly, you went straight back to your…relatives after it happened and you can't show weakness there, I know you" she took and deep breath and ploughed on "you can't bottle up all your feelings Harry, they'll eat you from the inside. Believe me I know, I used to keep my life secret from my mum and dad because I thought they'd get scared for me and take me out of Hogwarts and whenever I was home I felt this guilt because I knew I was lying to my parents"

Harry's frown softened for a moment and he began to say something but Hermione cut him off

"It's ok Harry I'm fine, I recently told them everything even though I was scared and they accepted it, they were obviously worried about me but they accepted that I'm part of this world. And now I've told them I feel so much better and I can be myself around them"

Harry looked out of the window at rapidly passing scenery "I don't mean to bottle it up, It's just easier to not think about it…it was my fault, if I weren't here…"

Hermione looked at her friend for a second before deciding that words weren't enough to persuade him. She moved forward and wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a deep hug.

"Please don't think things would be better if you weren't here" she whispered "You saved everyone from Voldemort when you were a baby and you've kept on saving those in trouble ever since"

Harry stood stunned for a second before he hesitantly wrapped his arms around Hermione's waist "Thanks Mione" he muttered into her hair, she smiled at the use of this name before reluctantly letting him go and stepping back a little.

Harry looked away and rubbed his eyes that were a little wet, as he opened his eyes again he glanced out of the window and saw something speeding towards the train.

He moved towards the window a little before realising what it was and dived toward Hermione "Down!" he yelled and pulled her to the floor with him as something hit the outside of the train with and almighty bang and ripped a large hole in the side of the train.

Harry shielded his eyes from the falling glass as he heard someone walk towards them over the broken glass, looking up he saw a cloaked figure in black and wearing a skull like mask looking down at him. Without breaking eye contact harry slowly moved backwards as Hermione did the same, the Death Eater raised his wand and was just about to perform some deadly curse or another before a voice yelled "_Stupefy_" and he dropped to the floor unconscious revealing Ron stood with his wand out.

"Come on, there all over the train" yelled Ron

Harry jumped u to his feet and pulled out his wand and then turned to see Hermione do the same "you alright?" he asked and she nodded

Now that his senses had started working properly again after the explosion Harry could hear over the whistling of the wind more spells pummelling the train and students screaming. Looking out of the hole made by the Death Eater Harry saw about 20 other Death Eaters flying around the train on brooms and accompanying them were dozens of Dementors.

Harry aimed his wand at the nearest Dementor and was about to cast a Patronus at it when a second explosion rocked the train carriage causing Harry to grab hold of a nearby candle holder to stay upright.

"We need to try hitting them while there still outside, Hermione you go that way and Ron you go that way" ordered Harry "Tell everyone to start firing out at them, find everyone that can perform a Patronus and get them to concentrate on the Dementors. I'll stay here and try and distract them from blasting the train"

Ron and Hermione nodded and set off in opposite directions along the train and could be heard repeating Harry's instructions to the other students. Harry meanwhile turned his attention once again through the hole blown in the trains side, taking aim he yelled _"Stupefy!" _and hit a passing Death Eater in the shoulder who subsequently fell forward off their broom but Harry didn't pause to see what happened to the Death Eater, he was already flinging more stunning spells at the passing Death Eaters and manage to take out four more.

He looked to the left, the direction Hermione had gone, and saw that some spells were being thrown from the carriages but weren't really connecting as the Death Eaters seemed to have made another hole and were boarding the train through it. However Hermione must have found a couple of students that could cast a Patronus Charm because a silver Duck and Boar were darting from the train and charging down the nearest Dementors.

Looking right Harry saw a lot more spells being cast at the flying Death Eaters and only one or two were still on their brooms, deciding that Ron had everything under control Harry set off towards the front of the train and Hermione. Passing several students that were either firing spells through windows, cowering in fright inside their compartments or trying to comfort the younger students Harry opened the door to the next carriage and found himself looking at the back of a Death Eater who at the sound of the door opening spun round, without pausing for thought Harry brought up his wand and stunned the Death Eater before he could attack. Once the man had dropped Harry had a clear view of the rest of the carriage and quickly stunned a couple more Death Eaters that were advancing on some Second Years. Running forward and looking around for anyone that needed help and stunning anyone that tried attacking, which included a Slytherin Seventh Year, Harry eventually reached the other end of the carriage and opened the door to the next one and was suddenly blasted backwards onto the floor, scrambling to his feet Harry threw himself against the wall next to the door and quickly peered around the door frame. Inside he saw two masked Death Eaters facing his way as well as a woman with black hair and heavily lidded eyes. She was pointing her wand at a group of terrified looking first years as well as holding someone by their bushy hair who was struggling on her knees, Hermione.

Harry saw red and his expression quickly turned into a snarl and he foolishly dived inside the front carriage and managed to blast the two surprised looking Death Eaters through a window but just as he turned his attention to the woman his whole body erupted in pain and he was forced to the floor screaming.

"Harry!" screamed Hermione

"Potter!" squealed the woman with obvious delight "Oh this is a pleasant surprise, you've just saved me the job of finding you amongst all these other students"

She flicked her wrist and the pain in Harry's body stopped, he slowly staggered to his feet and tried to aim his wand at the woman but she quickly said _"Expelliarmus" _and his wand flew from his hand and she caught it in her own wand hand.

"Hello Harry" the woman said in a sing song voice "My name is Bellatrix and I'm the one that's going to deliver you to the Dark Lord" she explained in a voice that suggested she was talking to a two year old.

Harry tried not to look away from Bellatrix's face as he though desperately for a way out of this situation, he glanced at the crowd of first years and saw one of them slip his wand from his robes and look intently towards Harry who quickly understood and gave the smallest of nods. He looked back at Bellatrix quickly and waited for his moment.

"The Dark Lord will be ever so pleased I've found you, he has been absolutely craving your company you know since you so rudely ran away from his rebirthday party" smirked Bellatrix

"Yeah sorry about that" panted Harry "I thought I'd over stayed my welcome, you know"

Bellatrix sneered "You're a cocky little brat aren't you" she aimed her wand at him "we'll have to fix that before you're brought to the Dark Lord, _Crucio!" _

Just before the spell hit him Harry dived forwards as if from a spring board and yelled "Now!" just as Bellatrix screamed out "Rodolphus!", the little first year threw his wand towards Harry who snatched it from the air and then rolled forward and into a kneeling position pointing the wand at Bellatrix.

"_Stupe-_wha_" yelled_ Harry as the wand flew from his hand before he could finish the spell, looking towards the carriage door Harry saw a man stood in the doorframe, he was wearing Death Eater robes and had a short untidy looking brown beard and he was pointing his wand at Harry and was wearing a smug smile.

"Well done Rodolphus" smirked Bellatrix who had aimed her wand at Hermione's neck "I'm afraid for that little display I'm going to have to kill your pretty little friend here as well as all these ickle firsties" she licked her lips at this and began to pant slightly as if in anticipation of the kill.

Harry looked with wide eyes from Hermione's tear stained face to the group of first years. What was he going to do? He was beaten…

Bellatrix gave a maniacal grin before throwing Hermione to the floor and then pointing her wand at her _"Avada-_

Harry opened his mouth to scream but instead of a scream an inhuman roar left his mouth that caused the group of first years to cover their ears. And then as Harry saw Bellatrix's lips mouth the final words of the killing curse his eyes glowed a blinding purple and jet of white hot fire left his mouth along with the roar and hit Bellatrix square in the chest and blasted her backwards into the wall behind her, meanwhile a small red feather had been blown from Harry's inside pocket and into the inferno raging from inside his mouth and was instantly incinerated.

The flames finally subsided and Harry fell to the floor panting heavily and sweating profusely, his body felt completely worn out and he was struggling to understand what had just happened.

Bellatrix was lying sprawled on the floor against the blackened wall and was sporting third degree burns all over her body, but she seemed to be breathing ever so slightly.

Rodolphus was still stood in the doorway in shock, after a full thirty seconds he stumbled forward towards his fallen wife. He stood over her and just stared until a noise behind him brought him back to his senses, he spun around to see that Hermione had crawled over to Harry.

A look of pure fury came to his face and he aimed his shaking wand at Hermione head but before he could even utter a word a fireball slammed into the side of his head and he was knocked to the floor unconscious.

Hermione whipped her head around to see who had saved her and saw a man she had never seen before stood in the doorframe. He was wearing black jeans, a white button up shirt and dark boots and his outstretched hand was alight with fire.  
The fire extinguished itself and he looked towards Harry and Hermione on the floor with piercing golden eyes.

He moved forward quickly toward Harry and put a hand to Harry's forehead as if checking his temperature

"I need to take him with me" he said turning to face Hermione

"What? Who are you?" she asked clearly surprised

"My name is Jericho, I am a friend of Harry's, I've dealt with the other Death Eaters and Dementors that weren't chased away by the students and some teachers have arrived from the school" he explained and then moved to pick Harry up but was stopped by Hermione

"Wait! I don't even know who you are! I'm not going to let you take Harry away" she exclaimed and tried to push him away before a gentle hand rested on her shoulder, surprised she quickly looked down at Harry.

"It's…okay 'mione" Harry croaked "He's…a good…guy" before his eyes closed again

Hermione stared at Harry for a second before slowly removing herself from the protective position she'd put herself in front of Harry, the man called Jericho stooped down and lifted Harry in his arms.

"I promise he'll be alright" he said with a smile to Hermione before erupting into flames and then vanishing along with Harry.

* * *

Hermione fell to her knees as tears began to fall from her eyes "Please let him be ok" she thought before a small noise alerted her to the presence of the first years and she quickly jumped up and wiped her eyes before moving over to them to see if they were alright.

Many miles away in a forest clearing a deer was scared away from the grass it had been munching on by a sudden burst of flame and two people collapsed to the ground, one carrying the other.

Jericho laid Harry down on the forest floor and then brought a wand from his jeans pocket and touched the tip to Harrys head and began to chant a strange language. After about ten minutes of Harry thrashing around his breathing slowed down and the pained expression he had been wearing was replaced by a more peaceful one, he slowly opened his eyes and saw Jericho kneeling next to him.

"I want to learn" he breathed "I want to know how to awaken the beast inside me" and then his eyes closed and he fell unconscious

Jericho nodded and then picked up Harry again and walked into the darkness of the forest with him.

* * *

Back on the train Hermione was sat on one of the few unbroken seats left waiting for the teachers to decide what to do. Ron was sat next to her, she had just finished explaining what had happened and he hadn't said a word since.

Professor McGonagall walked up to the pair "Miss Granger, Mr Weasley" she said hurriedly "are you two alright?" they both nodded "where is Mr Potter?" the Professor asked looking between the two of them.

Ron looked at Hermione who said "He's gone Professor, with a friend" she added quickly seeing the Professor pale.

"What do you mean Miss Granger?" said a deep voice behind Professor McGonagall who turned to reveal Professor Dumbledore stood wearing a grave expression

"A man who called himself Jericho appeared and helped defeat the Death Eaters; he said that he had to take Harry him to help him" explained Hermione

Dumbledore's eyes widened slightly before he said "And you let this stranger take Harry?"

"No" squeaked Hermione as if she had been scolded "I tried to stop him but then…Harry said it was ok"

"He did?" asked Dumbledore and Hermione nodded "Was Harry hurt?"

"Umm not that I could see any wounds but he seemed to be exhausted and his face was screwed up in pain" she said in a small voice "that was after he…breathed fire"

* * *

Authors Note

Well I think it's fairly obvious what Harry is now but I'm still not going to say it until the time comes.

I did think about killing Bella off but she's got too much character to die this early I think

Oh a special thank you to robst who showed me a great site for getting Hagrid's dialogue just right

Reviews are welcome as always


	5. Chapter 5

Harry rolled over and felt something cold against his face, opening his eyes he saw that he was laid on grass under a canopy of trees.

Raising himself up he looked around and saw he was in a forest clearing next to a burnt out fire. Jericho was leaning against a tree looking up into the branches.

"Where are we?" asked Harry rubbing his eyes behind his glasses.

Jericho looked at Harry for a second before answering "This a nature reserve for magical creatures, it's located in South America but the muggles aren't aware of the entire forests existence"

Harry nodded and picked himself up from the floor.

"How you feeling?" asked Jericho.

"Pretty good actually" said Harry in mild surprise "I thought I'd be more tired considering how I felt before"

"That's because your becoming more in tune with your inner animal" explained Jericho "your gaining strength and stamina from it. Do you remember what you did on the train last night?" he asked mildly.

Harry cast his mind back and found Bellatrix pointing her wand at Hermione, he remembered thinking furiously for a way to save her but came up with up with nothing. After that he couldn't remember much, he remembered yelling and an intense heat but nothing else. He explained this to Jericho.

"Hmm ok" muttered Jericho as he tapped his chin in thought "You're using your powers subconsciously, or to be more accurate you're giving your inner animal control over your body and abilities when you're under stress or in danger"

"Is that good?" asked Harry "I mean is that going to complicate things for me getting control?"

"I can't answer that I'm afraid" sighed Jericho "you see the fact that your inner beast is protecting you could mean one of two things. One it could be that it cares for you and wants to help you, or two it could simply be preserving itself for if you die it dies"

"Okay" said Harry

"The only way to find out for sure is to actually talk to it" said Jericho

"How?" said Harry surprised

"You have to enter your own mind and talk to it" explained Jericho "I know it sounds a little cliché but you've got to remember that your inner animal is the side of you that embodies your animal instincts so it is a part of your mind meaning it thinks too"

Harry frowned; this whole thing was starting to sound a lot more difficult to him.

"Would you like to start?" asked Jericho "or would you like to rest more first?"

"No, I'm ready" said Harry determined

Jericho smiled "Follow me"

Jericho led Harry through the forest to a cliff that overlooked more trees and a lake was visible in the distance. Telling Harry to sit on the grass near the edge of the cliff Jericho also sat down cross legged facing Harry.

"Okay, the method is simple, actually doing it isn't" said Jericho "What you need to do is close your eyes and try to block out the world, listen for the voice of your inner animal and when you hear it just let it take you with it" when Harry looked at him slightly confused he added "you'll understand trust me"

Harry nodded and closed his eyes. The world went black but the sounds of the forest around him still rung out, Harry heard the cry of some kind of bird and found himself wondering what bird it was but then realised what he was doing and went back to listening for a voice. After several minutes Harry had begun to have thoughts such as "this is impossible" float through his head which were very distracting, he began to get frustrated and finally decided to give up.  
Just as he thought this he heard a deep snarling voice say "heh, typical" inside his own head but he had already opened his eyes before he could listen for more.

Blinking in the bright sunlight Harry berated himself for giving up too quickly; he looked in front him and saw Jericho laid on his back with his hands behind his head watching the clouds.

"How'd it go?" he asked.

"I didn't hear anything until just before I gave up" Harry huffed "I should have tried for a little longer"

Jericho smiled "You had your eyes closed for over forty five minutes"

"Really!" gasped Harry, it had only felt like a few minutes.

"Yeah" chuckled Jericho "and don't worry if you didn't get anywhere the first time, you heard something right? I didn't the first time I tried"

Feeling a little more cheerful Harry looked out over the cliff with a determined look on his face before he closed his eyes and tried again.

After three more tries Harry hadn't heard anything else and was getting frustrated again, Jericho hadn't given anymore hints insisting that there weren't any to give.

"Can we take a break?" asked Harry a little annoyed

Jericho looked over at Harry with a small smirk "It's up to you"

Harry let out a frustrated snarl and closed his eyes again as Jericho chuckled

Once again everything went black for Harry and he attempted to block out the world once more, after a while Harry stopped hearing the different bird calls and the shouts of monkeys. Harry then became aware of a faint noise he hadn't heard before, it was a sort of low growl but it seemed so close to him as if it were inside his own head. Harry listened intently to the growl trying to catch anything else to figure out what it might be, the growl got louder and louder until there came an ear splitting roar and Harry's eyes shot open but instead of seeing the trees and sky and Jericho, he saw a swirling mass of colours all around him and in the centre was the silhouette of a massive winged creature that was looking down at him with bright purple piercing eyes.

The creature was about 30 foot tall and its wing span was about 50 feet. It had a long reptilian neck and tail and on each of its feet it had four claws. It's had was long and had an arrangement of spikes around the crown, a spike in the centre was stark white and shaped like a bolt of lightning. Seeing this Harry realised that it wasn't a silhouette, the creature was covered in jet black scales.

Harry walked forward staring at the creature whose eyes narrowed "So you've found me at last" the creature growled.

"Umm yeah, you're my inner animal I take it" Harry asked a little nervous.

"Very good" the creature growled and smiled showing off some very sharp rows of teeth.

Realising that he would have to start the conversation he asked "Where are we?"

"In your head of course" replied the creature

"And you're a…" Harry trailed of as everything clicked

"A dragon" replied the creature "A Hebridean Black to be precise"

Harry nodded a little overwhelmed, he had never expected this. He had never really thought about what his Animagus form would be; obviously he had wondered but had never really come up with any suggestions.

"You're here to request the use of my power, yes?" said the dragon

"Yes, I am" said Harry in a stronger voice

"Well I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you" said the dragon in a bored voice "I don't see why I should" it began to turn away.

Harry's jaw dropped for a second, he'd never banked on his inner animal being uncooperative.

"But, but no wait!" called Harry "I need your power, I need it to help me protect my friends"

"Why is that of any interest to me?" asked the dragon turning its head back towards Harry slightly "I just roam around inside your head"

Harry gaped and the dragon turned away once again and began to take steps away from Harry. "Dammit" muttered Harry, even inside his own head he couldn't do things right…wait a minute!

"Stop!" ordered Harry, the dragon turned back again with a surprised look on its face, well as surprised as you can look when you're a dragon.

"Excuse me?" asked the dragon

"This is my mind" said Harry in the same commanding voice "Everything here is part of me, including you. It's isn't your power, it's mine and I want to use it"

The dragon let out a low rumbling sound which grew louder until Harry realised it was laughing.

"I thought you'd never get it" smiled the dragon just before everything went white and Harry found himself sitting on the edge of the cliff once again.

"How'd it go?" asked Jericho looking away from the sunset on the horizon.

"I did it" grinned Harry.

* * *

At Hogwarts things were bad. It had been almost two months since Harry had disappeared and this had caused a lot of rumours among the wizarding population, among them were suggestions that Harry had either been kidnapped or voluntary joined the Death Eaters; these rumours were quoted from the Dailey Prophet every morning. Also a new teacher had been posted at Hogwarts by the ministry, her name was Dolores Umbridge and she was hated by almost every person at Hogwarts except for Filch and a few Slytherins she had managed to turn into spies. The ministry had also given her the post of "Hogwarts High Inquisitor" which basically meant that she could systematically work her way through the school and take away everything that made life good.

But the thing that made Hermione the maddest was the reaction Harrys so called 'best friend' was having to his disappearance. Initially Ron had been worried about Harry as you'd expect but over time Ron's views had changed, maybe it was the awful atmosphere Umbridge created in the school coupled with the none stop rumours in the Prophet about Harry but Ron had decided that it was a strong possibility that Harry had run away. It had started the night after Harry's disappearance after Hermione had explained to him what had happened on the train.

"He breathed fire!" Ron had asked gobsmacked

Hermione nodded "Yes, he didn't have a wand on him so it couldn't have been a spell and it had definitely come from his mouth"

Ron had frowned at this point and then slowly said "That's not normal"

"Of course it isn't" Hermione had said briskly "but its Harry, he's always been a bit more special"

Ron's frown had darkened at these words "Why would he go with this bloke you said came for him? He didn't even know him"

"Yes he did" answered Hermione "He said that he was on our side"

"That's not him saying he knew him" retorted Ron "He never told us about this Jericho bloke did he, if he had known him he would have mentioned it to us"

"Not necessarily" Hermione had said "I'm sure he had a reason not to tell us"

"Like what?" Ron had said heatedly "We're supposed to be his friends! And he gets some special power to breathe fire and doesn't even tell us!"

"This isn't about what powers Harry has!" Hermione had yelled finally losing her temper "This is about whether Harry is safe or not! We don't know where he is or if he's ok or…anything!"

Ron had grimaced at this "You let that guy take him! Besides I wouldn't be surprised if he just went off and left us to fend for ourselves"

Hermione had gaped at Ron before spluttering "How can you even think he would just abandon us! This is Harry we're talking about here! Even if he had abandoned us, who could blame him? He has the entire world against him in some way or another, people either want to tell ridiculous stories about him and make him out to be some lying attention seeking idiot or just want to outright kill him, and even his best friend is starting to turn his back on him"

"He's just trying to get attention Hermione; Mum read in Witch weekly that…" Ron had stopped there as Hermione had slapped him very hard around the face; she then turned on her heel and walked away.

The two of them hadn't spoken since, Ron had tried to persuade her to talk to him again and even to ask her to help him with homework but she had always ignored him until he had left. Due to this Hermione was very lonely at Hogwarts without her first ever friends, but she didn't regret it because she knew that she was standing by Harry's side. All the same she as looking forward to the Christmas holidays.

Neville was still resolutely on Harry's side and therefore Hermione's, the two of them would often sit together in lessons and at dinner but their days consisted of mostly Hermione helping Neville with homework he was behind on.

Hermione had difficulty working out where Ginny stood, and had come to the conclusion that she was waiting to see if her hero would come back and save the day before she made her mind up about him.

The day before everyone went home for Christmas was just like any other day for Hermione, she was looking forward to going home and seeing her parents and getting away from people like Ron who were either trying to persuade her into betraying Harry (that was how she saw it) or else talking about her like she was insane and couldn't hear them.  
Hermione was walking down to dinner for the last time that term when she heard someone talking quickly and quietly in a classroom off the corridor she was on, the were speaking too quietly for her to hear what they were saying but as she got closer they stopped and the ajar door of the classroom opened and Professor Umbridge exited the room. She looked around the corridor saw Hermione and made for her.

"What are you doing here Miss Granger?" she asked in her fake sweet voice.

"Going down to dinner Professor" answered Hermione not meeting Umbridges eyes, something that was for some reason instinct for her whenever she was around this particular Professor.

"I do hope you weren't eaves dropping on my conversation?" said Umbridge her eyes narrowed.

"No really, I was just on my way to dinner Professor" Hermione said again sure it wouldn't make a difference.

"All the same I think a week's worth of detentions are in order next term just to make sure don't you?" Umbridge smiled widely and the walked away before Hermione could say anything.

Hermione stood staring after her for a moment before setting off again her mind racing. Umbridge was foul and gave punishments when they weren't deserved but that was a little extreme even for her, what could she have been doing or talking to, to make her that paranoid?

* * *

"I think you're really getting it now Harry" smiled Jericho "You're not feeling tired anymore afterwards?"

"No" answered Harry "I feel fine"

Jericho nodded and then moved towards a tree and transformed his finger into a talon and scratched a target into the trees bark "Use this one now, you've pretty much destroyed that one"

Harry nodded and grinned a little as he moved away from a smouldering pile of wood and leaves. He then puffed up his cheeks and let out a stream of fire that hit the bulls eye of the target on the tree and left it slightly blackened but otherwise ok.

"Excellent, you've even mastered how to regulate the temperature of your fire" Jericho observed "Good thing too otherwise we would have needed another forest" his eyes swept over the many corpses of burnt up trees behind Harry

Harry laughed "So what's next?" he asked with enthusiasm

* * *

Authors Note

Sorry it's been so long since I updated but I started back at college last week and it was pretty hectic

I know this chapter is kinda short but the next one is going to have alot of action and I wanted to set the stage for that

Reviews always welcome


	6. Chapter 6

"Bloody hell" exclaimed Harry as he picked himself up from the ground for the thousands time.

"Your still not getting it" observed Jericho; he was sitting on a small rock a few feet away from a much larger rock which Harry was now scrambling up.

"Yeah, I noticed" answered Harry irritably

Harry got to the top of the rock and stood at the edge of it with his toes hanging off the edge; he took a deep breath and dove straight forward into the air. In mid jump two small black spiny wings burst from his back and spread wide but they were too small to support Harrys much larger frame, He kept falling and landed on the grass and collapsed to the floor, the wings returned back into him.

Harry staggered to his feet yet again all the while muttering under his breath, Jericho was chuckling slightly but stopped before Harry saw.

"Why won't it work?" huffed Harry "I've been jumping off of this rock all morning and I've hit the ground the same every time"

"You're getting there" said Jericho patiently "You've managed to form your wings you just need to get them the right size"

"Well isn't there a way to do that which doesn't involve me hitting the ground a lot?" asked Harry

Jericho smiled "The best way to get control of your powers is to get them to come out on their own. You instinctively used your fire breath because you were in danger so your magic had already experienced it, so it was relatively easy for you to call upon that power again."

"And the rock comes into this where?" asked Harry still annoyed

"If you can simulate a situation where your powers can help, then your instincts should kick in and you should be able to call upon them much easier, after that it's just practice to get the hang of them."

Harry looked back at the big rock and said "So we're trying to simulate me falling so my wings will sprout and save me?"

"Yup" said Jericho "I can think of a way that could be a lot faster but it involves you jumping off a cliff"

"No thanks" replied Harry curtly, he turned and started scrambling up the rock again.

* * *

Hermione was in her room at home, she was sitting on her bed reading a book entitled _Rare and Unique Powers of the World; _she was trying to find out how Harry had breathed fire on the train. She had looked through many books on wandless magic but they all said that nothing very powerful can be achieved with wandless magic as the witch or wizard cannot draw upon the power needed without a catalyst like a wand. However this made Hermione's mind up that Harry hadn't performed wandless magic, whatever it had been there was no question that it had been powerful so she had moved onto books detailing people with special powers that were different to normal magic but had so far come up with nothing very solid.

It was actually December 27th only four days left until Hermione had to return to Hogwarts and she really wasn't looking forward to it. There had still been no word from Harry, she had hoped that he might have sent her a letter or even a gift at Christmas but nothing had arrived which left her slightly hurt that he might have forgotten about her, but whenever thoughts like these arose she would always quash them quickly because she knew Harry wouldn't do that to her.

She had received gifts from both Ron and Molly Weasley at Christmas though, although she had not forgiven them, and hadn't even bought them anything in return, she opened the presents out of sheer curiosity. From Molly there was a large Christmas cake and from Ron there was a large bar of Honeydukes chocolate. Hermione was immediately very suspicious of this, they knew what she thought of them at the moment and anyway Ron had never given her sweets before because he knew she wasn't a large fan of them, but more importantly he was Ron; he didn't give food away. She had disposed of the cake and chocolate, partly because she was wary of them but mostly because of who had sent them.

Hermione put down her book and rubbed her eyes tiredly, she hadn't really stopped researching since Harry had disappeared so desperate to find some connection to him and where he might be. Setting aside the book on her nightstand she got up and went downstairs thinking about getting something drink.  
As she passed the living room she heard a snippet of what the news anchor was saying on the TV, she poked her head in and listened to the rest of the story

…_the attack happened at around 9.30pm on Christmas Eve in the city of Manchester near the large Arndale shopping centre, eye witnesses say that a large animal bounded through the crowds and lunged at a dark haired youth who was out shopping with an equally dark haired man in his mid to late twenties. Witnesses say that the animal was "about the size of a man but wolf like" the most shocking part of this story is that whoever the boy was he seemed to fend of his attacker with a few punches and kicks which sent the unknown creature running, the boy and man ran too after the attack and a local policeman that pursued them to offer assistance reports that "they turned a corner into an alley and I lost sight of them for a few seconds, when I'd got round the corner myself they were gone. The alley had only one other exit at the opposite end but they could never have run all the way to the end before I got there"…_

Hermione turned to towards the kitchen once again as the news reader started on a new story her brow furrowed in thought. The description of the animal that had attacked sounded very much like a werewolf to her; there had even been a full moon that night she remembered because she had thought it looked very pretty when she had caught sight of it when closing her bedroom curtains, but why would a werewolf be in a busy city like Manchester especially on Christmas eve. Her immediate thought was that Voldemort may have sent it there to cause some trouble but no from what the report had said it had gone for someone in particular who had somehow beaten it with their fists and feet which was ridiculous she thought.

And what about this dark haired boy? She asked herself, her thoughts immediately jumping to Harry. But if it had been him firstly what the hell had he been doing shopping? She thought furiously, if he wanted a shopping trip there was no need to disappear for almost four months. Also how had he fought off the werewolf? She was pretty sure if he had used his wand the muggles would have noticed so how had he done it?

_The same way he breathed fire_, said a small voice in her head but Hermione shook her head at this. No it couldn't have been Harry, there was no reason for him to be there and anyway it might have just been a regular animal attack, just a big dog or something.

"It wasn't him" she whispered to herself both in relief and disappointment.

How wrong she was.

* * *

On December 24th Harry had finally begun to master his new powers, he could manifest the dragons claws on both his hands and feet as well as use the dragons eyes to increase his own vision which had effectively made his glasses now pointless.  
Also Jericho had begun teaching Harry how to fight with his body as well as his magic, as he had put it "what's the point of having claws if you can't use them?"

When he had started his training Harry was doing it purely because he believed that he'd be able to protect his friends better but now he had actually started to enjoy it, not that he had forgotten his original reason.  
He found himself eager to learn more, not just about his own powers, but about Awakened Animagi in general and their history in the wizarding world. He also found Jericho to be a great teacher; he was patient and explained things so Harry could easily understand what was expected of him and easily encouraged Harry when he felt frustrated or upset with one thing or another.

But the one thing that Harry liked the most about Jericho was the trust that he gave to Harry, when he, Harry, would ask a question rather than get some kind of cryptic riddle for an answer that left him with no more information than what he started with Jericho simply answered the best he could to give Harry information, and it was this that made Harry trust Jericho in return.

It was due to this too that Harry was unafraid to approach Jericho with a request.

"Um Jericho, I've just noticed…it's Christmas Eve" said Harry as he sat on a log in the make shift camp that he and Jericho had set up all those months ago

"It is?" said Jericho looking up from stoking the fire with his fingers

"Yeah…I've also noticed that while I've been here I haven't contacted my friends…" he trailed off looking guilty, he'd thought of his friends many times during his time in South America but something had always come up before sending a message crossed his mind.

Jericho watched him for a moment and upon seeing the guilty look upon his face said "Sorry about that, I should have realised. Tell you what, let's go shopping and we can get them all a present which you can send with a note telling them how you are"

Harry looked up before a wide grin appeared on his face "Really?" he asked making sure he wasn't joking

"Yeah why not? I haven't really got any money though so we'll have to go back to England to visit Gringotts, I think Diagon Alley is out of the question though" he said looking thoughtful

"You mean we can really go?" asked Harry excitedly

"Uh-huh" nodded Jericho "but like I said Diagon Alley would be too dangerous for you, so would London in general really…" he trailed off looking thoughtful once again "how 'bout this, we go to another branch of Gringotts to get you some money out then go shopping in a muggle city, outside of London and the wizarding world you shouldn't be recognised 'specially seeing as you don't wear your glasses anymore"

Harry's grin was now stretched from ear to ear "Thanks Jericho" he said

"I imagine your friends are going to be kinda mad at you anyway, might as well sweeten them up with presents" he grinned

That's how Harry found himself walking through the city of Manchester on Christmas Eve alongside Jericho. The visit to the Sheffield branch of Gringotts went smoothly after Jericho flamed them both there, however Jericho had said it was a good idea to go shopping somewhere else just in case any of the wizards and witches in Gringotts had recognised Harry so they flamed to Manchester.

Unfortunately Harry had only time to buy one present before it had happened. The pair had been walking through the last minute shoppers having just exited the large Arndale centre, Jericho muttering about a woman who had pushed him out of the way to grab at a jumper that she thought he wanted when in fact he had only been leaning on the clothing rail, Harry was chuckling at Jericho's grumpy face when several people had screamed and the squeal of tires was heard as a car came to a sudden halt.

Whipping round Harry saw something large leap from the hood of the car onto four legs and bowl through the crowds straight towards him. Before he knew it the creature was in front of him and had jumped straight at him, claws raised and a hairy snout full of teeth barred. Harry's instincts took over and the first test of his training was put forward as he swung his right arm forward to meet the beast while at the same time hard black scales sprouted all down his arm and fingers. The animal's jaws locked around Harry's arm but the pain that he had been expecting never came, looking closely he saw that the razor sharp teeth of the beast couldn't penetrate his diamond hard dragon scales. Grinning slightly at this, which showed off his own pointed teeth, Harry saw a flicker of fear in the creatures eyes before he flung his arm out which dislodged the creature and threw it to the floor but it immediately bounded forward again but Harry was ready, his scale covered fist connected with the beasts muzzle and a crack was heard as the long snouted was knocked into a funny angle. Harry remembering a manoeuvre Jericho had shown him designed for grapples like this quickly covered his right leg in black scales too before bringing up his foot to the beasts chest and sending it flying in a wide arch before it crashed to the floor a few metres away.

The creature lumbered back to its feet but its movements were jerky and it's breathing ragged, it took one look at Harry whose eyes were bright purple and boring into its own before making up its mind and dashed off through the crowds once again.

Harry stood for a second in mild shock as his dragon scales receded and his eyes and teeth went back to normal. He was shocked that not only had, what he now realised was a werewolf, attacked him in the middle of a busy muggle street but he had fought it off alone and what was more it had been easy.

Still stunned Harry felt a hand on his shoulder; he turned to see Jericho staring at him with a mixture of pride and worry.

"I think we better leave" he said before pulling Harry into a run behind him. His mind finally caught up and Harry caught up to run beside Jericho, he heard someone behind them shout "wait!" before Jericho pulled him sideways into an alley before they disappeared in a burst of fire.

The fire disappeared from his vision and he fell to the floor as the now familiar noises of the forest met his ears. He shook his head to clear his thoughts before looking at Jericho who had also collapsed on to the warm grass.

He looked over at Harry breathing a little more heavily than usual "You ok?" he asked

Harry pondered the question for a moment before answering "Yeah, you?"

"Fine" still eyeing Harry

There was silence for a full minute before the pair broke into laughter which continued for another minute or so.

"I know that was a bad thing that just happened but the look on that wolfs face when it couldn't bite you was priceless" chuckled Jericho

Harry grinned back before something occurred to him; he quickly checked his jacket pocket before pulling out a small rectangular velvet box. Sighing with relief Harry opened the box and stared happily at the only present he'd managed to buy that night.

* * *

Hermione was very relieved when the carriages arrived at the front steps of Hogwarts, the train ride back hadn't been very fun. Ron had tried yet again to talk to her but the fact that his first sentence was "I see Potter still isn't here" had made his journey a lot more painful because Hermione had immediately pulled out her wand and yelled "_Nega Sedis" _pointing it at him. Ron had to stand for the rest of the train ride as several painful boils erupted on his hind quarters.

Hermione wasn't really worried about getting into trouble for it, which was extremely unusual for her. She just couldn't stand Ron saying anything bad about Harry anymore, it wasn't only because he was supposed to be Harry's best friend and that she knew Harry was doing whatever he was doing for a reason but because she was slightly upset with Harry herself.

She still believed in him and knew that he hadn't abandoned them all, no she was still very much his friend but that didn't stop her from being mad at him for not letting her know he was alright, she had been worried constantly for five months and he hadn't even bothered to send a note! Her mind tried to make excuses for him like "maybe he's just so busy he hasn't had chance" but she immediately knew that that wasn't an excuse she was going to accept. And although she missed him so much it sometimes hurt she was already formulating her lecture to him once he turned up.

As Hermione was crossing the entrance hall lost in her thoughts a voice rang through the crowds.

"Miss Granger, a word if you please" said a falsely sweet voice

Hermione closed her eyes in annoyance but then turned to Umbridge "Yes, Professor?"

"I have just had word from Mister Weasley that you attacked him on the train, is this true?" said Umbridge, her smile getting wider with each word.

Hermione said nothing, technically she supposed she had done just that no matter what her reasons, but she knew it wouldn't make a difference anyway.

Umbridge watched her for a few seconds more before continuing "I think for this disgusting behaviour you deserve a week's worth of detentions, of course that is on top of the week I gave you at the end of last term" she simpered

Hermione scowled but continued to hold her silence

"I'll expect you at my office at 8.00pm tonight" said Umbridge before she waddled of towards a group of fourth year students that quickly checked themselves to see what they could possibly doing wrong.

Hermione set off towards the staircases again, half way up Neville caught her up.

"Hi, Hermione" he said with a smile "you have a good Christmas?" he asked

"Hi Neville, and it was fine" answered Hermione hoisting a smile onto her face "what about yours?"

"It was ok" Neville said "did you hear about that werewolf attack in Manchester?"

Hermione's eyes widened "It really was a werewolf then?" She asked

"Yeah" said Neville "apparently because no magic was used to fight it off the ministry didn't know what had happened until it was too late to obliviate all the muggle witnesses because it was already on their news"

"Did they find who fought it off?" asked Hermione hope creeping into her voice

"No" said Neville as Hermione looked crestfallen "like I said because no magic was used it wasn't until three days after that the ministry found out so there wasn't anything they could do to find them or stop the muggles reporting it, thankfully the muggles all think it was just a big dog"

Hermione smiled slightly at this as it mirrored her own thoughts when she found out, but whoever did fight off the werewolf had used no magic but it wasn't possible to fight a werewolf with brute force was it? Their strength was based on magic after all and they were very vicious.

Sighing Hermione followed Neville up the stairs and towards the fat lady's portrait.

"Password?" she asked

"Umm…_P-placet aperta_?" said Neville obviously trying to say the words correctly

"Correct" said the fat lady and swung forwards to admit them, Neville scrambled through obviously pleased he had got the password right followed by Hermione who was still lost in her thoughts.

Glancing around the common room once before mounting the stair case up towards her dormitory she made her way up to the room to get away from the crowded common room.

Once she reached her landing she pushed open the door and stepped inside, Parvarti was inside brushing her hair on her bed.

"Hi Hermione" she said glancing towards her

"Hello Parvarti" replied Hermione as she made her way to her bed and trunk, once there she reached into her trunk and fetched out the book she had been researching through over the holidays and sat on her bed to read.

But before she had even opened the book she heard a tapping noise, looking towards the window next to her bed she saw a large brown owl outside carrying a small package.

Getting up she opened the window and the owl flew in and landed on her bed and stuck out its leg watching her, obviously wanting her to relieve it of its burden. Moving forward she looked at the name on the package and saw her own name written on it in what she recognised as Harry's handwriting.

Excitement flooding her she quickly untied the package and the owl took off again through the open window. Hermione quickly unwrapped the brown paper around the package and a rectangular velvet box and a letter fell out.

Deciding to read the letter first she snatched it up and tore it open and began to read.

_Hermione,_

_I am so, so, so, so, so sorry that I haven't written you for so long. I know it's no excuse but I've been really busy and I just haven't had time for anything, you know me and my one track mind. I've been with Jericho, the man that helped us on the Hogwarts express; he says he introduced himself to you. He's been training me to use some…special abilities I've discovered. He also apologises for not reminding me to contact you. I can't tell you where we are or what we're doing but please understand that it's important and that I would never intentionally hurt you like I know I must have these past months. I'll be back soon I promise._

_Another thing I must apologise for is that I missed Christmas, I tried to go shopping for presents but was attacked by a werewolf, don't worry I'm fine honestly, I was able to fend it off using my new abilities. Anyway I only had time to buy one present before we were attacked and had to run, the good news is that it was your present I managed to buy, I hope you like it!_

_Love, Harry_

_P.S Tell Ron and the other Weasleys and Dumbledore that I'm fine and that I'll be back soon, they don't have to worry._

Tears had started falling from Hermione's eyes as she read, more from relief that Harry was ok but there was a little anger in there too.

However the fact remained that Harry was ok and that he said he would be back soon. A large smile appeared on her face as she re-read the letter and finally her eyes landed on the words _Love, Harry_. Her smile widened and she let out a small chuckle of happiness.

At this Parvarti looked up and saw Hermione crying and immediately got up.

"Hermione are you ok?" she asked as she moved over to sit next to her

Hermione looked up with the smile still gracing her features and begun to wipe the tears away "I'm fine Parvarti, I'm brilliant" she answered

"Good" said Parvarti seeing that she actually was "Who's the letter from?" she asked

Hermione thought for a second but then said "Harry" which made her smile more. Parvarti had been one of the ones that had stood by Harry when everyone had decided he had run away and deserted everyone; Hermione knew it wouldn't do any harm to tell her.

"Really?" Parvarti said as her eyebrows rose

"Yeah, he's ok" said Hermione "Can you believe that it was the fact that he hadn't got anyone a Christmas present that made him remember to write" Hermione laughed

Parvarti laughed too "So what did he get you?"

Hermione looked at her confused for a moment before remembering the rectangular box, just knowing Harry was ok was enough of a present for her.

She picked up the box and opened it, what was inside made both girls gasp.

It was an ornate silver pendant in the shape of an open book, in the centre of the book was a perfectly cut emerald.

There was also a small note: _It immediately made me think of you, not that I need persuasion._

Hermione gently brought the pendant out of the box and looked at in awe as more tears welled up in her eyes. She unclasped the chain and turned to Parvarti "Will you…?" she said holding it out.

Parvarti nodded and took both ends of the chain before draping it around Hermione's neck and fastening it again.

Hermione looked down at the small silver book and smiled, she was still going to kill him though.

* * *

"Is that to your liking Voldemort?" said a female voice.

"Very much so" hissed the skull faced lord "and you're sure that they will be able to handle it?"

"Of course" said the woman "my men are the best" as three others entered the room.

One was very large with a bald head and a mean face, another was of normal height with dark hair and calculating eyes that swept the room and the final one was rather small with droopy looking eyes and face with short mousy hair.

"Very well" Voldemort said as a cruel smile grew on his face "To Hogwarts it is"

* * *

Authors note.

I'm sorry a million times for such a long gap between updates. Real life got in the way plus I had a little writers block I'm hoping that it won't be a problem again. I hope I haven't lost any of you.

Nega Sedis roughly translates to I Deny Seat

Placet Aperta also roughly translates to Open Please

To MariusDarkWolf, thanks for pointing out my spelling it's an existing problem but I try hard to work it out, especially now I know I have such eagle eyed readers

To lycus, the amount of time Harry was gone was a mistake on my part, sorry, I've corrected it in this chapter.


	7. Chapter 7

A week after receiving Harry's Christmas present Hermione found herself walking through the deserted castle towards Umbridges office for her eighth detention with the cardiganed professor.

Hermione shuddered at the thought, she only had to write lines but she had been there until at least midnight every time and considering they started at 8.00pm that was a long time to write constantly. Her hand was still aching from the night before but she willed herself to keep walking towards the evil toad's lair.

Finally reaching the office Hermione took a deep breath and knocked twice before a sugary voice said "Enter"

Stepping inside Hermione looked around the office and found Umbridge perched behind her desk as usual.

"You know what to do Miss Granger" she said in a falsely sweet voice, her smile widening.

Hermione nodded trying to hide her scowl, she moved over to the small desk she normally sat at and picked up the quill. She noticed it was a different quill than normal, it was black and the point was extra sharp.

Looking round she noticed something and turned and said "Professor there's no ink"

"You won't be needing it dear" Umbridge smiled at her, a look of excitement on her face.

Hermione frowned but nodded and turned back to the parchment and put the quills point onto it, sighing she moved the quill but immediately dropped it with a gasp as a sharp pain shot through her hand. Looking at the back of her hand she saw a small cut that was bleeding profusely.

Whipping around Hermione shot Umbridge a look of disbelief.

"Yes dear?" she said

"T-this is a blood quill!" Hermione almost screamed

"Yes dear, I know. I didn't think the message was sinking in enough and thought this may help" Umbridge explained in a voice that suggested Hermione was about four.

"But they're illegal!" Hermione shot at her

Umbridge laughed "Miss Granger, I am the senior undersecretary to the minister for magic himself. I believe something is the right course of action, then it is"

Hermione just gaped at her in shock.

"If I had my way then you would have been expelled the moment you put a toe out of line, and believe me I am working on doing just that" continued Umbridge "Of course I do understand dear, keeping the company of one such as Harry Potter had to have an effect on you. He is willing to go to such lengths to get attention perhaps that has rubbed off on you"

Hermione's shock had now turned into rage, how dare this evil woman say anything about her Harry! _…Her Harry?_

"Telling lies about the Dark Lord returning and now disappearing mysteriously after severely injuring a woman aboard the school train with what could only have been dark magic" Umbridge continued

"That _woman_ was Bellatrix Lestrange!" yelled Hermione

"That doesn't excuse the disregard for our laws and practicing Dark Magic!" yelled Umbridge, suddenly all reason lost.

"He wasn't using Dark magic, and he was trying to protect everyone!" screamed Hermione

"Enough! I will not let you question my authority! When Potter is found he will be tried to the full extent of the law! I will personally see that he goes to Azkaban at the very least!" shrieked Umbridge, spit flying everywhere

Hermione suddenly lost control, she felt herself march forward and bring her hand up and slap Umbridge hard across the face.

Umbridge looked shocked for a moment and when she saw the fury upon Hermione's face a flicker of fear passed over her but then she seemed to pull herself together "HOW DARE YOU!" she bellowed before snatching up her wand from the lace covered desk.

Umbridge pointed her wand at Hermione her eyes bulging "_Cruc-"_she began before Hermione realised what she was about to do and snatched a horrid decorative plate from the wall and flung it at Umbridge who just managed to get out of the way.

While Umbridge was distracted Hermione pulled her wand from her bag and rounded on the High Inquisitor saying _"Pertrificus Totalus"_

Just before the spell hit her Umbridge yelled out "DILAN!" and then went ridged and fell over.

Hermione stood for a second panting trying to take in what had just happened but suddenly the office door was flung open and a large bald headed man with a mean face charged it looking around wildly.

He looked at Umbridge for a moment lying paralysed beside her desk; the angry look in her eyes that were directed towards Hermione told him all he needed to know.

He dove towards her and grabbed her wrists and growled "Undo the spell" in a rasping voice.

Hermione looked fearfully at this large man before she shook her head knowing that no matter what she did now something bad was going to happen to her.

The man snarled at her in anger and annoyance before he called over his shoulder "Vincent, get in here!"

A few seconds later a man walked in looking bored, he had dark hair that was slicked backwards away from his shrewd looking eyes and he wore what seemed to be an expensive black muggle suit.

"What's the problem Dilan?" he asked in a smooth voice

"Umbridge has been put under a spell and the girl won't reverse it" the man called Dilan explained sounding angry and a little embarrassed.

The man called Vincent laughed "I've always said your lack of education would be a problem" he reached inside his suit and withdrew a wand and pointed it at Umbridge and muttered _"Finite Incantatem" _

Umbridges limbs sprang apart and she scrambled to her feet looking livid "You will pay for this girl" she hissed pointing her wand under Hermione's chin "How dare you touch me with your filthy mudblood hands and raise your wand against me"

Hermione stood struggling slightly in her captures large arms trying to get a shot with her wand before she felt it wrested from her hand.

"I think I'd better relieve you of this" the man called Vincent said twirling her wand in his fingers.

"Good work you two" Umbridge said "The master will be pleased"

Hermione's brain suddenly went into overdrive, Master? She couldn't possible mean Voldemort could she?

"Our master knows we get the job done, that's why she keeps us around" said Vincent in a bored voice

Now Hermione was really confused. He had said She, who was this woman they called master?

"What shall I do with her?" asked the Dilan

"She attacked a high ranking ministry official" said Umbridge, a cruel smile forming on her face "We shall take her to the proper authorities. Of course that is merely a formality as all they need is my word to throw her in Azkaban"

Hermione's eyes widened "You tried using an unforgivable curse on me!" she yelled "I could tell them that and you'd be the one in prison"

Umbridge gave a little titter "They won't believe and underage mudblood over the senior undersecretary to the minister "

Hermione tried to keep her face defiant but knew that Umbridge was right.

"Shall we go then?" asked Vincent again sounding bored.

"Yes, we shall" Umbridge said sweetly looking at Hermione with a look that was anything but sweet.

Hermione felt herself being steered by the large man holding her towards the door but she struggled trying to get away before…_"Stupefy" _and all her world went dark.

The man called Vincent shot an amused glance at the man called Dilan as he stowed his wand back inside his suit, Dilan threw Hermione's unconscious body over his shoulder in a fire man's lift.

The three walked out of the office and across the classroom and out into the corridor with Umbridge in front.

"Has Edgar accomplished his task?" Umbridge asked Vincent

"Yes, Dumbledore's office has been sealed with him inside. It won't hold him forever though" answered the man called Vincent.

The three walked quickly through the castle; they met no one as they made their way towards the front doors. Arriving in the entrance hall the three made their way quickly towards the huge doors opening them with the wave of a wand.

However after taking one step outside the three stopped abruptly as standing at the bottom of the front steps was none other than Albus Dumbledore.

"Good evening Madam Umbridge" he said pleasantly, but the usual twinkle in his blue eyes had been replaced with cold fury.

"Dumbledore, what are you doing here?" asked Umbridge obviously trying to stay calm.

"I apprehended this man" he nudged a bundle at his feet the other three hadn't noticed before "trying to seal my office, luckily I happened to have a craving for hot chocolate at the time and set off for the kitchens before he managed it"

Umbridge swallowed looking panicked, Dilan looked confused and Vincent looked bored once again.

"Before I stunned him this man, Edgar, told me that he had been sent to prevent me from interrupting the kidnap of one Hermione Granger" here the pleasant look upon his face dropped "by you madam Umbridge"

Umbridge tried to speak but was cut off by Dumbledore.

"He also told me that the reason that you wanted to kidnap Miss Granger was to try to force Harry Potter to reveal himself, now why would you want to do that?" he asked gazing coldly at the toad like woman.

"O-of course for his own good. Who knows what he is up to" Umbridge answered "He could be doing something dangerous and if we could get him to come back then we would be able to convince him to stay where he is safe" she finished looking pleased with herself

"Ah I see" said Dumbledore "however that does not explain your attempt to use an unforgivable curse on one of my students, ghosts can be very difficult to spot sometimes you know"

Umbridge knew at this point the game was up, and so it appeared did Vincent.

"_Avada Kadavra!" _ He yelled and a green light fired at Dumbledore but with surprising agility the aged Headmaster jumped out of the way as the three on the steps ran forward, Vincent grabbing the unconscious man called Edgar, and they set off across the grounds towards the front gates.

"Get the girl out of here!" shrieked Umbridge at Dilan who nodded and threw Hermione up into the air.

He jumped into the air after her and black feathers sprouted all over his body except his bald head and his arms expanded and turned into huge wings, his neck extended and so did his nose turning into a cruel looking beak. His feet turned into two talons which gripped Hermione's robes as he beat his new wings and took off into the air.

* * *

Meanwhile in South America, Harry Potter was getting very excited. He had completed enough of his training under Jericho and gained enough control that Jericho had announced he didn't need to be in seclusion anymore in case of an accident.

"So I guess that means you can go home and get the snot kicked out of you by that girlfriend of yours" Jericho grinned

Harry looked at him confused for a moment before he went red "H-hermione's not my girlfriend! We're j-just friends" he stammered out looking embarrassed

"Oh ok" chuckled Jericho "But I've never seen someone blush so much at the thought of "just a friend" he said making air quotations with his fingers.

Harry said nothing and turned around looking for something he could pack but saw nothing, Jericho having used his wand to pack everything moments before.

"C'mon let's go" Jericho said smiling with the mischievous glint still in his eye.

"Where _are_ we going anyway?" asked Harry as he moved over to Jericho and placed a hand on his shoulder ready to be engulfed in fire and appear in another location. It was convenient having a Phoenix Animagi as a friend sometimes.

"Straight to Hogsmeade" said Jericho has he picked up the two backpacks on the floor and handed one to harry.

A second later fire erupted around the two and Harry felt the familiar sensation of the he was travelling at high speed on a warm day.

Moments later the two appeared on the man road in Hogsmeade a few feet away from the Three Broomsticks. A man staggered out of the pub just as the two appeared and gaped in shock at the two.

Jericho swung his back pack onto his shoulder and then saw the man before moving over to him.

"You want to cut down on the fire whiskey mate" he said patting the man's shoulder.

Harry chuckled and set off up the street after Jericho looking at the looming figure of Hogwarts with a big smile plastered to his face.

As the two got closer Harry noticed some flashes coming from the other side of the huge gate signifying the start of the Hogwarts grounds. Jericho also had noticed.

"C'mon" he said and broke into a quick jog.

"Someone's duelling" he called starting to run with Harry close behind.

Suddenly Jericho skidded to a halt. "What?" asked Harry stopping next to him.

Jericho pointed into the night sky "Is it me, or is that a Vulture?" he asked

Harry looked up and saw that it wasn't just Jericho. Lit up by the silver moon was a huge Vulture flapping towards them as fast as it could.

"Yeah…" said Harry "Wha-…?" he began but Jericho cut him off.

"What's that it's carrying?" he said sounding urgent "Use your dragon eyes Harry"

Harry did as he was told and his eyes turned bright purple, using his dragon sight Harry could now see easily in the dark as if it were day and things far away seemed very close. He could also see in the heat coming from things using something Jericho said was thermal vision.

Peering at the massive bird Harry looked just below it and saw that it was a person their robes being held by the vulture's talons. Squinting a little Harry saw a mass of bushy brown hair and something silver glinting near their neck. Suddenly he realised.

"Hermione!" he yelled "It's got Hermione!"

Without waiting for anything Harry dashed forward and covered his body in black scales. He arrived at the Hogwarts gate and without pausing or breaking step he bounding into the air using the strength from his inner dragon. He landed on the head of one of the winged boars that guarded the gate, bending at the knee slightly he took another huge leap into the air directly in the vultures flight path.

Dilan kept flying as fast as he could trying to get the granger girl out of the Hogwarts grounds so he could disapparate with her. He may not have gone to school and learned a lot of fancy spells like Vincent but his master had taught him how to disapparate at least in case he ever got into a tight situation that his Vulture form couldn't handle.

He kept flying gratefully for his large frame and impressive wing span when something dark leapt right into him and grabbed a hold of one of his wings.

Harry gripped the huge bird's left wing trying to stay on as the bird thrashed in mid-air trying to stay aloft and dislodge him at the same time.

"Put Hermione down!" bellowed Harry not expecting it to understand, however…

"Get off me!" yelled the bird and Harry almost fell off in shock.

The huge vulture's long neck twisted around so it could face Harry, instead of the beak and beady eyes Harry had seen a moment ago when he had jumped there was now a mean looking human face that was yelling very obscene words at him.

Recovering quickly Harry started yelling at the bird…err…man "Put her down!" he yelled

"Can't do that I'm afraid, I've got orders" bellowed the man vulture hybrid.

Harry snarled at him showing off his pointed teeth, coming to a decision he pulled out his wand from his trousers and pointed it at the birds back.

"_Stup_-"he began but suddenly the bird banked right almost throwing him off if he hadn't grabbed a handful of feathers.

Harry quickly got his balance again and began another attempt to stun the bird man but he suddenly noticed his wand wasn't in his hand anymore. Fearing he'd dropped it he looked towards the head again only to see that the man's face had gone to be replaced by a beak once again, a beak that held his wand.

Harry lunged forward and grabbed the birds neck "Gimme that back!" he roared but the bird man started beating his wings more vigorously and started to climb higher into the air. Harry felt himself slipping backwards and realising what the bird man was doing he cursed himself for never mastering his own wings.

Dilan congratulated himself on his plan to throw off the scale covered boy when suddenly he felt a sharp pain in the side of his head.

Harry had done the only thing he could at the moment and thrown a punch towards the bird's head which had knocked it out and off course. Harry kept punching until the bird started to dive. He gripped some feathers and tried to lower himself down towards Hermione before the bird crashed into the earth but slipped and fell.

Thankfully the large Vulture had fallen at such an angle that it had flipped over before it hit the ground causing it to break Hermione's fall. However she bounced off the bird's stomach and rolled away down the lawn until she came to stop a few feet away.

Harry had landed quite painlessly thanks to his dragon scales and strength but he watched aghast as he saw Hermione get thrown from the large bird. Just as he started sprinting towards her the vulture shrank slightly and a man was left in its place.

"That bloody hurt!" cried Dilan clutching his head.

Harry ignored him and carried on to Hermione but before he could get to her he was thrown back by a blow to the face.

He groggily got to his feet again and looked around. The man who had turned into a vulture making his way towards Hermione again and to Harrys right Professor Dumbledore was duelling with a toad like woman and a small man who had a droopy, unhappy looking face.

Suddenly something appeared in front of him and thanks to his quick reflexes he dove backwards and landed cat like a metre away. Looking up he saw a man with slicked back hair and wearing a muggle suit, his hands were in his pockets and his leg was outstretched having just tried to kick Harry in the face. He was smiling in an amused sort of way.

"And just who are you?" he asked sounding genuinely interested "You're obviously and Awakened too"

"What are you doing with Hermione?" Harry demanded

"She's just bait" the man replied "For Harry Potter"

Harry's eyes widened. They want me? He thought well if they do…

Harry stood up straight and retracted all of his scales "Well here I am" he said "Let her go now"

Vincent laughed, this was too easy he thought stupid noble boy. Turning he called out "Dilan! Leave the girl and move away!"

Dilan looked up towards Vincent and seeing the look upon his face smiled and obeyed.

Harry sighed in relief before Vincent plunged his hand inside his suit and whirled around pointing his wand directly at Hermione _"Alta Delere!" _he screamed as a burst of flames appeared next to him and a voice yelled "Vincent!"

Harry was oblivious to all of this though; time had slowed down as a dull yellow light erupted from Vincent's wand a sped straight at Hermione's stirring form. His body sprang into action as scales enveloped him and two large black wings erupted from his back and beat the ground lifting him into the air.

Hermione was groggily coming back into consciousness. Just as she pushed herself up slightly on her elbow and clutched her pounding head she heard several shouts and turned to see a dull yellow light heading straight for her. Fear gripped her as she knew she wouldn't have a chance to move out of the way and she didn't have her wand.

Her eyes grew wide as she heard another shout, "Hermione!" it said before something dove towards her from above the speeding spell and surrounded her with two large bat like wings and two arms hugged her against her saviour as she closed her eyes ready for the impact she knew was going to happen.

Harry held onto Hermione and braced himself a second before the yellow light slammed into his back and he felt huge amounts of pain rip through his body, he let out a strangled yell as he slumped forward.

Hermione opened her eyes slowly and saw the black scales covering her saviour's arms. She watched amazed as they all shrank into skin and a normal arm was clinging to her. She moved her head up just as the two wings also disappeared and she looked at the face of the one who saved her and felt tears begin to run down her cheeks.

"Harry?" she asked hesitantly. It was defiantly him despite the lack of glasses she thought; she'd recognise those eyes anywhere. "Harry…a-are you ok?"

Harry looked up and straight into Hermione's eyes before smiling slightly and answering very faintly "I am now". He then fell sideways coughing up blood before he passed out.

"Harry!" Hermione screamed "Harry no! Wake up!"

Looking up for help Hermione saw Professor Dumbledore hurrying towards her and the man that had helped Harry on the train close behind.

Dumbledore fell to his knees began muttering something under his breath waving his wand over Harry's unconscious body.

Hermione looked on tearfully and almost screamed when the professor turned him over to reveal a large bloody burn on Harry's upper back where the curse had hit him.

"He needs medical attention quickly" said Dumbledore "We must get him to the hospital wing"

"Wait" said the man from the train, he pulled a handkerchief and put it up to his eyes for a few seconds before he brought it down and laid it out on the burn on Harry's back.

"What are you doing?" Hermione squeaked

"Trust me" said the man, his long hair falling over his eyes but Hermione could make out a pair of golden coloured eyes and in them she saw the man genuinely wanted to help.

After a few seconds the man removed the handkerchief and Hermione gasped and Dumbledore's eyebrows rose as the large burn on Harry's back had now disappeared as if it had never existed.

"How…" Dumbledore began but was cut off by the man.

"It won't have worked on the internal injuries, we need to get him to your nurse" he said

Dumbledore stared for a split second then nodded flicking his wand causing Harry to start levitating and then Dumbledore set off across the grounds towards the castles front doors.

Hermione and the man followed quickly behind Dumbledore jogging slightly to keep up with the headmaster's long strides.

After a few seconds two people ran out of the front doors towards the group, as they got closer Hermione saw that it was professors McGonagall and Snape. McGonagall looked worried, Snape suspicious.

"Albus! Albus what happened?" asked McGonagall when they got with ear shot.

"Minerva young Harry here has been injured I must take him to the hospital wing" explained Dumbledore without slowing down "Can you and Severus go over there and apprehend Madam Umbridge and a small man who are laying stunned on the lawn, do not revive them yet and make sure they do not escape"

Both teachers immediately set off in the direction Dumbledore had pointed but cast curious glances back at the headmaster.

The journey through the castle was quick and soon Madam Pomfrey was fetched from her office by a tearful Hermione while Dumbledore carefully lowered Harry onto a bed"

Jericho stood next to Harry's bed and watched the proceedings as Dumbledore explained what had happened and what Harry's injuries were. Madam Pomfrey threw a surprised look at Jericho when she was told how he had healed Harry's back but kept quiet and carried on casting diagnostic spells on Harry.

Eventually she tipped several different potions into Harry's mouth and pronounced that he was stable but needed rest.

Hermione had been silently sitting next Harry while Madam Pomfrey had worked and now sat with his hand in her own as she willed him to be ok.

Dumbledore thanked Madam Pomfrey before he turned towards Jericho "Now as grateful as I am to you I must ask, who are you?"

Jericho smiled and nodded "My name is Jericho Ignis; I have been training Harry for the past five months"

"So you are the one that took Harry?" asked Dumbledore

"Yes I took him, but it was his decision to stay. If he had wanted to come back I would have gladly let him" Jericho said

"Just what exactly have you been training him in?" asked Dumbledore frowning

"Harry is an Awakened Animagus; I trust you know what that is Headmaster?" Dumbledore nodded while Hermione looked confused and said "I thought they didn't exist anymore?"

Jericho smiled "You have been misinformed I'm afraid" he took a step back and promptly transformed into his Phoenix form and then back again.

Hermione's mouth had fallen open and Dumbledore's eyebrows were now missing underneath his hat.

"I trust that also explains how I was able to heal Harry earlier?" Jericho asked

"It certainly does" said Dumbledore in a voice close to awe "May I have a word with you in private Mr Ignis?" he asked gesturing towards the hospital wing doors.

"Of course" replied Jericho and walked out with him leaving Hermione alone with Harry's still unconscious form.

She looked sadly at him squeezing his hand as if hoping it would somehow help. She noticed suddenly he didn't have his glasses on and remembered that he hadn't before when he had saved her. "He looks good without them" she breathed

Suddenly Harry coughed and his eyes slowly opened as he groaned. He looked around as his vision returned and finally his eyes landed on Hermione who was smiling at him through her tears.

"…Mione?" he whispered

"It's me Harry" she said "are you ok?"

"I'm fine" he replied as he winced from sitting up

Still smiling at him Hermione moved her head closer to his and kissed his cheek "Good"

Harry smiled bashfully at her but his expression turned to one of fear as Hermione suddenly scowled at him and said in a low dangerous voice "Now…where the hell have you been?"

* * *

Author's notes

So bit of a big one this time. I enjoyed writing about Hermione slapping Umbridge.

Thanks for all reviews, you're still all awesome.

To **Who Are You What Do You Want, **The wabbits are on their way

To **Jarno, **No Harry didn't have a vision of Voldemort; he had a vision of his inner animal. And the reason the Order wasn't present is because in the books I don't think anyone is aboard the train except the students, the driver and the witch that sells sweets. There are order members and Aurors at the platforms at kings cross and Hogsmeade but not on the train.


	8. Chapter 8

_Harry smiled bashfully at her but his expression turned to one of fear as Hermione suddenly scowled at him and said in a low dangerous voice "Now…where the hell have you been?"_

Harry's brain suddenly jammed as his mouth tried to stammer out an answer. He wanted to give Hermione a good answer because he knew she deserved it and wouldn't accept anything less.

"I…I…I've been… I've been in South America…and…" Harry began but then stopped. He blinked a few times and stared at Hermione as she sat opposite him with her arms and legs crossed and a determinedly annoyed expression on her face, but he could see the need to know and understand just where her friend had been and it suddenly clicked in his head that he could tell her anything.

Smiling slightly as this warming thought stayed with him Harry began to talk, telling Hermione everything from his first dreams about his inner animal to Jericho appearing in his bedroom and finally to what his training had been like.

"So you can turn into a…dragon?" asked Hermione slightly wide eyed.

"Umm…well not exactly" said Harry a little embarrassed "I haven't got that far yet, I can bring out the scales and claws. Oh and my eyes have been fixed now because of the dragons eyes" he finished with a smile.

"Hmm I noticed" Hermione said quietly as she stared into his startlingly green eyes and was lost within them for a moment before she pulled herself together.

"But even so!" she burst out suddenly standing up "I didn't know if you were ok! I didn't know where you were! I didn't know if you would ever come back!"

Harry was now staring guiltily at Hermione's tearful face unable to look away.

Hermione had started pacing beside the hospital bed still ranting.

"I understand that this was important but do you understand how upsetting and scary it was when you left! You'd just performed a dangerous piece of unknown magic against a known murderer and seemed to be in pain which scared me more than you can imagine but then you disappeared with a stranger I didn't know in a burst of fire!" Hermione ranted until her face was pink and tears were falling freely from her chocolate coloured eyes.

Harry said nothing as Hermione let out her feelings, he knew she was right and felt terrible that she was so upset because of him. He felt tears start to well up in his own eyes as Hermione finally seemed to run out of energy and slump back down in the chair beside him and rest her head against his shoulder.

"Why…why d-did you…leave me?" she hiccupped, lightly hitting him rhythmically as she continued to rest against him.

"Hermione I…" Harry began but faltered as he realised he didn't have an answer. As more feelings of guilt and shame filled him he felt something else, something he realised he'd been feeling for a long time, longer than the past five months but he'd never noticed it. He couldn't place what it was but now he'd acknowledged it, it felt stronger than ever before now that he was in such close quarters to his first and best female friend bearing her emoticons to him.

"Hermione…" Harry put his hands on her shoulders and brought her up to look at him "I'm so sorry, I know I can't say anything that would make you forgive me. But I just want to say that I am sorry, and I feel terrible for hurting you so much"

Hermione said nothing; she just stared at him through her tears so Harry ploughed on.

"I did think about you a lot, I told Jericho a lot about you. I know that I should have contacted you in some way but every time the thought crossed my head we'd start something new with the training or something would come up we had to discuss. It's not an excuse it's just what happened." He stopped for a moment to gather his thoughts, he needed to explain himself now he had started "I refused Jericho's offer to begin with you know…I thought that if Voldemort was going to make a move to kidnap me then the first place he would look was Hogwarts, where you were…so I didn't want to leave you alone here. But when we were attacked I realised that just because I was there doesn't mean I could protect you so I went with Jericho to train so that I could protect you…everyone else too" he added as an afterthought.

"I kept quiet about where I was because I realised that if certain people knew where I was then they'd try to get me to come back. And if you were the one asking me to come back I'd have to obey" he said with a half a smile.

Hermione blinked a few times still watching him. Everything he was saying, although she didn't like it, it made sense. And she knew she would have forgiven him eventually anyway but he was now telling her things that made her stop and think.

Finally deciding to respond Hermione gave a little sniffle and then asked "But why did you have to go to South America? I understand that there could have been accidents because you couldn't control your powers fully but why so far away? I'm sure professor Dumbledore would have found you somewhere…"

Harry frowned and looked down at the bed sheets "It's not legal" he said simply.

"What isn't?" she asked confused.

Harry sighed "To be what I am, what Jericho is. There's an old law that's never been changed that states that any Awakened Animagus found by the Ministry will be immediately imprisoned"

Hermione looked fearful for a moment before her rationality took over "That can't be true Harry. I'm sure that this law means if anyone is found abusing their powers then they will…"

"No" Harry interrupted "As soon as it is proven what they are they will be sent straight to Azkaban with no trial or hearing. Jericho told me that in the past some were even taken to the department of mysteries to be researched but never came back out"

"How can that be true? If people knew…" Hermione began again.

"The law was written over five hundred years ago, back when it was the Wizards Council that was in charge. They thought that someone that was like me would be too dangerous and difficult to control despite the fact that most Awakened Animagi would just carry on with their normal lives and be friendly as ever they were rounded up and locked away, purely because of what they were and the seat of power were afraid of losing that control. The law hasn't been changed in all this time because people thought that Awakened Animagi had become extinct and no one saw the point of going through the trouble of withdrawing the law" Harry finished with an ugly look upon his face, it had hit him just now that this was something else to separate him from everyone else, make him different, an outcast.

"But…but times have changed since then! People wouldn't let you be thrown in prison because of something you have no control over" Hermione attempted to argue, trying to convince herself as much as Harry.

"Wouldn't they? Today's society tolerate the purebloods discriminating against muggles and muggleborns every day, whether it's just name calling up to refusing to hire someone because they are a muggleborns despite their qualifications" Harry looked up at Hermione and she knew he was right before he'd even finished "You think they'll let me wander around when I could be a genuine threat?"

Hermione felt more tears prick her eyes but pushed them back "You're right Harry. But it doesn't matter because we'll just keep this quiet, no one needs to know and if you ever have to reveal your powers we can just say it's a spell"

Harry stared at her for a moment; he could almost see the cogs in her head turning already trying to think up a spell that could be used as an excuse. But that didn't matter at the moment what did matter was…

"We?" he asked quietly

Hermione rounded on him "Of course we! I'm not letting you go through this on your own, your my best friend" she said it with such resolution and finality that Harry didn't even want to argue.

He sat back against his pillows and smiled "Thanks 'Mione"

Hermione flushed with pleasure at the nickname but nodded firmly.

The two sat in silence for a little while lost in thoughts that, although unknown to each other, were very similar.

Harry kept shooting sideways glances at Hermione as he evaluated what her friendship meant to him, every time he looked at her, her importance seemed to rise. He realised that when he looked back through all their adventures together over the years he wouldn't be alive right not if it wasn't for the beautiful witch sat next to him. _Beautiful?_ That had been an unexpected thought but tilting his head to the side to look at her better he found he agreed with the random thought, she was quite beautiful. Her chocolate brown eyes gave him a warm feeling every time they locked with his own, and as he lay on the bed he felt a sudden urge to reach out and stroke her soft curly brown hair that was so often dismissed as bushy and wild but Harry found he liked these things.

After a few more moments of sideways glances Harry shot a final look a saw Hermione bite her lip as her brilliant mind worked away at something, at that moment he felt his breath catch in his chest and two very opposite feelings fought to overwhelm him.

One was pure happiness mixed with the odd feeling he had recently acknowledged concerning Hermione. The other was absolute terror because he now realised what the odd feeling was every time he was near his best friend. Realising this his brain went into super overdrive.

_I…LIKE Hermione?…I LIKE LIKE her? When did…How did…oh god. What do I do? Do I tell her? What if I do? Will she hate me? What if she hates me! What if she thinks I'm sick falling for my best friend? Oh god, oh damn, oh bloody hell! What do I do? I don't know what to do! I mean if it were any other girl I'd…well I'd still be terrified but I wouldn't lose my best friend if they didn't like me back. But it's not any other girl, its Hermione…beautiful, caring, smart Hermione…no don't think like that…but…no I can't tell her, can I? She'd probably hit me or hex me or both!_

More thoughts similar to these threw themselves around his head as he tried to maintain a normal outward appearance; he wasn't very sure how he was fairing though.  
He was aware that he was sweating slightly and was glancing at Hermione every few seconds taking in every inch of her appearance, he fought the hormonal teenage part of his brain as best he could to stop his eyes from going lower than her chin but kept slipping up, he looked down from her eyes to her lips then to her neck before he gave in and let his eyes take in the rest of her, she had become rather well-endowed in the chest area he saw but he was both thankful and annoyed that she was wearing her long Hogwarts robes which hid most of her figure from view. He both rejoiced and cursed every time he looked as he liked what he saw but didn't know if that was bad or good.

While Harry was having his internal battle Hermione was having a similar experience, albeit a little less intense.

She had known for a while that she had feelings for Harry that stretched further than "just friends", ever since third year when the two of them had flown on Buckbeak to save Sirius. She had always been afraid of heights but for some reason when the two of them had been higher in the sky than the tallest tower at Hogwarts she had felt reassured by Harrys presence, the tighter she had held him the safer she had felt and although she hadn't known it at the time the more her feelings had blossomed.

_I've been over this before; Harry wouldn't be interested in me. I'm too plain looking. He'll always be just a friend to me…But those things he said just now, I felt something…he was talking about me, he said he had wanted to protect ME, had missed ME. Maybe…no he was just saying that because I'm the only one here. But he had seemed so genuine when he had apologised for hurting me, he really was…that's because I'm his friend…but what if…no, it won't happen…but I've missed him so much these past five months I want him to know just how much…it's a stupid idea, he'll probably laugh in my face…Harry wouldn't do that!...no but he'd still not be interested in me… _

Hermione fought to control her blush as she sneaked looks at Harry every now and then. She wanted to say something to start a conversation but couldn't think of anything but the dark haired boy beside her. He had been made shirtless during his examination by Madam Pomfrey and Hermione couldn't stop her eyes from roving over his well-defined chest and stomach but blushed madly and looked away every time she caught herself.

The silence between them stretched on, neither one knowing how to break it with their current thoughts. But almost as one mind the two came to the same decision.

"Harry" Hermione said at the same time Harry said "Hermione" the two grinned at each other and there was a small argument over who would talk first. Eventually Hermione won so Harry screwed up his courage trying to think of what to say.

"Um…well Hermione I know I can't say sorry enough but I really am sorry for making you worry so much" Harry managed to get that bit out quite well "But the thing is while I was away, I…err noticed that I was…um…thinking about you…a lot" he finally stuttered

Hermione's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, could he possibly be saying what she hoped he was saying?

"And well I didn't really know…err…what they meant. But seeing you after all that time sort of…um…made me realise exactly what it meant." Harry soldiered on using every ounce of his Gryffindor courage.

Hermione's throat had gone dry, but her brain had completely shut down. She was sure she knew what Harry was trying to say but she didn't dare believe it so she allowed him to carry on.

"Umm…what I'm trying to say is…well…I really missed you over these past few months…and the reason I missed you so much is because…I…I like you…more than a friend" finally reaching the point of no return Harry went bright red and stared resolutely at the bed sheets waiting for Hermione's reaction.

Hermione was stunned, she had spent over two years convincing herself that Harry wouldn't like her more than a friend but now all of that meant nothing, he did like her and that was brilliant but she wasn't sure how to respond. She wanted to jump up and down and whoop and shout but that seemed out of the question somehow.

Realising she had to answer Hermione cleared her throat "Harry I don't know what to say…"

"It's ok; I didn't think…well that is…I just had to get it out…" Harry rambled but was soon silenced by a small snigger from Hermione "What?" he asked slightly annoyed.

"I wasn't saying I didn't like you, I just was so shocked that you like me too" Hermione said with a chuckle.

"You mean…you like me?" Harry asked hesitantly.

Hermione nodded her smile widened as she asked "And you…you like me?"

"Yeah I do, I really do" Harry answered sincerely.

The pair sat looking at each other for a second then they came to a silent agreement and both blushed as they moved closer to each other.

Harry was slightly scared, he wanted this he really did but what if he messed it up somehow?

Hermione was also a little nervous; it's the first time she told herself we can practice more. This thought gave a confidence boost and she closed her eyes ready.

Harry moved his head downwards staring at Hermione's lips as they moved towards his own almost in slow motion.

The two were an inch apart, ready to take the first step into their newly admitted relationship when there was a loud BANG! As the hospital wing doors were thrown open.

Jumping apart from each other as though thrown in opposite directions Harry and Hermione turned to see Ron Weasley striding towards them, a large grin planted on his face as he stared at Harry.

"Harry!" Ron exclaimed as he came to stop at the foot of Harry's bed "Good to see ya mate! I knew you'd come back, just knew it. You were only back a few minutes and you already got yourself into trouble eh" Ron chortled.

Harry was smiling half-heartedly at his friend; he was annoyed at Ron's timing but knew he hadn't meant it.

Hermione however…

"What are you doing here?" she spat at Ron eyeing him.

Although he understood Hermione was probably disappointed like he was he felt she was overreacting a little.

"I'm visiting Harry, what does it look like?" Ron sneered "Your best mate comes back after five months and gets himself injured, you normally check on him"

Hermione jumped to her feet, pure rage upon her face.

"Your best mate!" she shrieked, confusing Harry to no end.

"Yeah, now why don't you…" Ron started but was instantly drown out by Hermione's screams of rage.

"HOW DARE YOU!" she bellowed "HOW DARE YOU COME IN HERE ACTING LIKE YOUR HARRY'S FRIEND WHEN ALL THE TIME HE'S BEEN AWAY YOU'VE BEEN TELLING PEOPLE THAT HE'D ABANDONED EVERYONE TO GET ATTENTION!"

Hermione was breathing hard and she had unconsciously gripped Harry's shoulder as she had yelled at Ron, but she didn't remove her hand even when she noticed it.  
Harry meanwhile was still very confused but felt immense anger boiling inside him, he shot a hard look at Ron.

"Is that true?" he asked in a low voice.

"Harry mate…" Ron began but Harry cut him off.

"IS IT TRUE!" he roared matching Hermione's volume.

Ron stepped back as he was stared down by Harry and Hermione. He knew he wouldn't be able to lie like he had intended to now, not with Hermione there. He hadn't known she would be there when he had burst into the Hospital Wing, he had planned to give Harry his version of what had been happening to get in his good books but now because of that annoying bookworm his plan had been scuppered.

"Tell me Ron, is it true?" Harry said again in such a commanding tone that Ron immediately answered despite himself.

"Yeah but…" Ron began again but was again cut off.

"Get out" Harry said in a deadly voice.

"Harry listen…"

"Get out, Ron"

"Just hear me out…" Ron attempted

"No"

"Just go Ron" Hermione spat.

"Just let me…" he rounded on Hermione but another voice cut him off.

"I think you should leave mate"

Ron's head snapped up to face the newcomer as Jericho strode into the room, an ugly look on his face.

"Who are…" but this time Ron stopped himself as he looked this man in the eye, for some reason he felt scared when he looked at the golden eyes of this man and didn't want to be near him anymore.

Without a word Ron turned and hurried towards the door slamming it on his way out, his large feet echoing on the stone floor as he scurried down the corridor.

After a few seconds the sound of Ron's footsteps faded and Harry slumped backwards into his pillows. He then turned a snatched up an empty potions bottle from his bed side table and hurled it across the room with a furious scream where it shattered against the opposite wall.

Hermione quickly perched herself on the bed and gathered Harry up in a hug.

"I'm so sorry Harry" she whispered in his ear "I'm sorry you had to find out like that but I just couldn't sit there and watch him…"

"It's ok 'Mione, I know" Harry murmured "Thank you, for sticking by me" he hugged her back, burying his face in the crook of her neck.

The two teenagers held each other for a few more seconds before Jericho cleared his throat and they broke apart but Hermione stayed sitting where she was, dangerously close to on Harry's lap.

"I'm sorry Harry about him. But you've got this amazing girl" Jericho said nodding at Hermione "and I think she more than makes up for that red headed guy"

Harry smiled "Yeah, she does" which caused Hermione to go scarlet.

"Professor Dumbledore knows about our…err…condition and has agreed to keep it quiet. He also said that the reason you weren't here at the beginning of term was because you were receiving special training in defence due to the regular occurrence of Death Eaters trying to capture you, which I guess is more or less the truth" Jericho explained.

Harry smiled slightly and nodded.

"Also tomorrow you'll start back at lessons like normal but in the evening your godfather is going to floo to Dumbledore's office to see you"

"Great" said Harry his face lighting up "At least Sirius won't be as scary as you 'Mione"

Hermione scowled and elbowed Harry but the corners of her mouth twitched all the same. Jericho laughed as he turned towards the doors.

"Right, the Headmaster said he'd put me up for the night too so I'm off to bed. G'night you two" he winked and left the room.

Once the Hospital doors had swung shut again, Harry put his left arm around Hermione's waist the right not having left it from when they had hugged.

"I really am lucky to have you ya know" he said staring into her brown eyes "I've realised that"

"Good" said Hermione smirking "But I'll keep reminding you every now and then just in case"

Harry grinned and leaned forward as Hermione did the same, their lips met for the first time and Harrys arms tightened around Hermione's waist as her arms draped themselves around his neck. The awkwardness from before had some disappeared but neither cared as they enjoyed the sensations running through their bodies stemming from their locked lips.

Just as the kiss began to deepen a door was opened and someone cleared their throat.

Springing apart the two looked on with flushed faces at the stern form of Madam Pomfrey.

"I think it's time you both got some rest, especially you Mr Potter." She said, hands on her hips "So back to Gryffindor tower if you please Miss Granger"

The pair nodded and looked at each other shyly for a second.

"I'll come visit first thing in the morning" Hermione said, she slid of the bed and turned to Harry for a final hug.

"Good Night Harry" she said into his shoulder.

"Night 'Mione" he replied into her hair.

Then with one last peck on the lips Hermione turned and set off to bed.

"Lights out now Mr Potter" said Madam Pomfrey waving her wand extinguishing the candles in the ward.

Harry moved down onto his back and stared at the dark ceiling. It had been a very odd night.

He had lost his first ever friend, that he knew. He couldn't forgive Ron for what he had done, it was too painful.

But he had found something extraordinary in Hermione, not only was she his best friend but now she was his girlfriend.

His girlfriend, Harry grinned at that thought. He'd never had a single thought make him so happy before. And as he lay in the dark he couldn't help but let his mind replay his and Hermione's first kiss, and her face as she bade him goodnight promising to come back the next day.

Hermione had almost skipped back to Gryffindor tower but had resisted the urge; it wasn't something a prefect should do.

The massive grin on her face never left wavered as she made her way through the dark castle and she said the password for the fat lady with so much cheer that the portrait stared.

But Hermione didn't care; nothing could ruin her mood at the moment. She had finally admitted her feelings to Harry and he had liked her back! And they had kissed too! That had been amazing and better than she'd ever imagined. Finally getting to the dormitory Hermione got ready for bed still grinning madly and as she laid in bed her thoughts were only of one person.

* * *

Authors Note

So it finally happened. They're together. Bet you all hate Ron huh?

I had originally thought about doing a little more on this chapter but decided this was a perfect place to leave it.

To everyone that's reviewed so far, thank you ever so much. Please keep them coming.

To tenga- I'm glad you're enjoying it. And I'm glad you think I've deviated from that particular story path. I'm trying very hard to make sure that Harry is still very much the same person despite his powers and although he is a little stronger than the average wizard (if there is such a thing) that he still has his weaknesses and has things he has to overcome like everyone else.


	9. Chapter 9

The next day Harry woke early as sun rained into the empty ward and directly into his eyes. He sat up and shielded his eyes with his arm before swing his legs out of bed and sitting up.

As if an alarm had informed her Madam Pomfrey immediately emerged from her office.

"What are you doing Mr Potter?" she asked as she swept towards him.

"Um…getting up" answered Harry as he stood up.

Madam Pomfrey however pushed him back into sitting on the bed "Let me examine you first" she said in an irritated voice.

She waved her wand over him and looked into his eyes, she also asked if he felt any soreness when moving to which the answer was no.

"I feel fine Madam Pomfrey really" sighed Harry

Madam Pomfrey stood up still eyeing him critically before she nodded curtly "Very well, I can't find anything to be worried about at the moment but don't overdo it. Here is some fresh robes" she said turning back to her office while at the same time she flicked her wand and a pile of neatly folded robes flew towards Harry.

"Thanks" said Harry with a grin, he quickly got dressed and exited the Hospital Wing.

As he walked down the corridor one he had one objective, to find Hermione.

"I wonder if she's still in bed" he muttered to himself as he walked "it is only 6.30"

His musings however where cut short as he rounded a corner and saw the objective of his thoughts and affections strolling towards him, a large grin emerged on his face as he stood and watched Hermione walk towards him.

Hermione had been lost in thought as she made her way to the hospital wing but movement ahead of her made her look up and she smiled at the black haired boy in front of her.

The two stood awkwardly for a moment, not really sure how to proceed.

Eventually Hermione decided "This is silly" she leaned forward on her tip toes and pecked Harry on the lips "Good morning" she said with a smile.

Harry blushed but quickly got over it and leant down to kiss Hermione back "Good morning to you too"

Hermione smiled then grabbed his hand and began to drag him down the corridor "c'mon, breakfast" she said.

Harry groaned "do I have to?" he asked "I don't know if I'll be able to put up with all those idiots staring at me this early in the morning"

Hermione turned and gave Harry a hug and another kiss "Don't worry, I'll protect you" she said with a smirk.

"I thought I was supposed to protect you?" asked Harry with a small smile.

"Nope, you need more protection than me I'm afraid" answered Hermione solemnly but she too had a small smile playing around her lips.

"Ah ok, makes that whole turning into a dragon thing pretty pointless then doesn't it" quipped Harry.

"I'm sure you'll find it's useful for something" laughed Hermione as she began to pull him down the corridor again.

When the two finally reached the great hall they stopped outside the big double doors, Harry breathed in and out slowly before marching forward through the huge doors.

The reaction from the rest of the school was pretty predictable. Staring, pointing, whispering and varied insults from the Slytherin students but it wasn't so bad, with it being so early there wasn't that many students having breakfast yet so with a small prod from Hermione Harry set off for the Gryffindor table.

Walking across the hall Harry focused on where he was going to sit that would be far away from people asking questions and what he would say to those that asked questions. Hermione focused on Ron and the dark looks he was giving the two as well as Ginny who was eyeing Harry up unabashed, not that she could blame her she thought happily.

Finally reaching the table the two sat down at the far end of the table where people were scarce and began to eat and chat about various things from who the people that had tried to kidnapped Hermione had been to what South America was like. Harry felt truly content for the first time in, well, ever.

It may have seemed nothing that special to anyone else, to sit and eat breakfast and chat to their friend, no girlfriend he reminded himself with a private smile. But to Harry it felt like nothing at all existed to him except the beautiful girl in front of him and what she had to say and what she wanted to ask him, and to be in a world where the only thing that existed was Hermione Granger was a wonderful thing to Harry.

Every now and then a fellow Gryffindor would come over and ask Harry where he'd been but quickly left when it came apparent that Harry was in no mood to answer questions.  
After the seventh Gryffindor came and went members of other houses started coming over too. The Hufflepuffs mostly just asked if he was ok and where he'd been but didn't really press the issue, Ravenclaws seemed intent on finding out where he had been and why he wasn't wearing glasses anymore and some sixth year girls even wanted to know how he'd gotten into such good shape to which Harry just grunted "Exercise", Slytherins of course took a detour out of the hall to pass where Harry and Hermione were sitting in order to hiss insults at him as they went past.

Eventually breakfast was over and everyone got up to head off to class, which was also when Harry realised he didn't have a timetable.

"What class have I got?" he asked Hermione.

"Oh…um…I don't know…I've got arithmancy so I'm not sure…" Hermione replied picking up her bag from under the desk, as she stood up she looked down the table and saw Ginny fighting her way through the crowds trying to get to where Harry and her were stood.

Just then however Professor McGonagall swept up to them and passed a timetable to Harry causing Ginny to stop and hang back.

"Welcome back Mr Potter" said Professor McGonagall "The headmaster has informed me that your time away was necessary but I trust you will study hard to catch up" she finished with a glare.

"Yes Professor" Harry said.

"Also the Professors will provide any books or other items you need while you have time to purchase your own supplies"

"Ok, I'll write some letters to Diagon Alley later tonight" answered Harry.

McGonagall nodded and walked away saying "Move along Miss Weasley" to Ginny who had no choice but to leave the hall in front of McGonagall.

Harry and Hermione left the hall together a little behind Professor McGonagall.

"So what lesson do you have?" asked Hermione.

Harry looked at his timetable and saw that he had Divination.

"Divination" he told Hermione stowing his timetable in pocket.

"Of course, I should have realised because we have all other classes together" said Hermione looking a little upset.

Harry smirked and put an arm around her shoulders "Don't worry Mione, we were kind of preoccupied in there what with all my "well-wishers"

Hermione laughed and nodded as they climbed the marble staircases. Eventually Hermione kissed Harry goodbye and headed off to Arithmancy leaving Harry to make his way to the top of the North Tower.

Just as Harry got to the bottom of the spiral staircase leading up the tower to Trelawney's room someone called his name behind him. Turning around he saw Neville hurrying towards him.

"Hey Harry" said Neville "I didn't get to talk to you at breakfast what with all the people…" he trailed off.

"Yeah I know, don't worry about it Neville" grinned Harry, Hermione had told him how Neville had stood by Harry and kept her company while he'd been gone and he was very grateful to the clumsy boy.

"So you ok?" asked Neville as the two started climbing the steps.

"Yeah I'm great" said Harry with such a big grin that Neville stared.

Harry chuckled and stopped walking glancing around to make sure no one was eavesdropping.

"Me and Hermione have sort of realised how we feel about each other and well we're together now" Harry finished with a smile.

Neville beamed "That's great"

"Yeah it is" grinned Harry "So you ok Neville?"

"Yeah I'm fine, glad your back now though" answered Neville.

"Why?" asked Harry confused, he considered Neville a friend but didn't really think his absence would affect Neville too much.

"Well you, Hermione and Ron are sort of my only friends and Ron's a bit…well…" struggled Neville.

"It's ok, I know Nev" muttered Harry.

"…well now your back I've got someone else to talk to" said Neville as Harry felt a great rush of sympathy towards Neville "Plus I was fed up of people saying you'd gone dark or abandoned everyone" Neville continued suddenly in a much harsher tone that surprised Harry "anyone that really knows you would know you'd never do that" finished Neville as they finally got to the top of the stairs and reached the silver step ladder leading up to the classroom.

"Thanks Neville" said Harry and then he remembered something that he and Jericho had grown into the habit of doing.

He held out his fist towards Neville.

"W-what are you doing?" asked Neville a little wary.

Harry chuckled "Sorry I should probably explain, you make a fist then we touch them together like this" as he demonstrated "it's called Giving Skin, it's what friends do in the muggle world"

Neville looked confused but did as Harry said and grinned "It's kinda weird but ok" laughed Neville.

Harry chuckled again as he climbed the silver ladder with Neville right behind him. Emerging into the stuffy classroom Harry looked around for somewhere to sit and saw Ron sat alone in the corner, for a split second he was about to go sit with him but then remembered what Ron had done and turned away.

He saw an empty table behind Parvarti and Lavender and made for it. He sat down then realised he was alone and looked back at the trapdoor and saw Neville standing by it looking around nervously.

"Hey Neville!" Harry called "What're you doing?"

"Um…I was looking for somewhere to sit…" answered Neville shuffling his feet.

"Sit here" said Harry pointing at the chair next to him.

"Really?...you don't have to…" started Neville but Harry cut him off.

"Shut up and sit down" said Harry with a grin and he held out his fist.

Neville grinned too and moved forward and bumped fists with Harry before sitting down, his smile faltered slightly when he saw Ron watching him with his eyes narrowed but was distracted as Professor Trelawney emerged from a shadowy corner.

"Good morning, my dears" said Trelawney in a breathy voice "One of our number has re-joined us as I knew he would, welcome back my dear however I'm afraid you may not be with us for very long" Trelawney stated, her eyes fixe d on Harry and a knowing look on her face which thoroughly irritated Harry almost as much as Parvarti and Lavenders gasps and worried looks in his direction.

Trelawney swept towards her chair and informed the class that they would be continuing studying Ceromancy, which it turned out meant staring at a candle for an hour trying to see patterns and signs in the melting wax.

The only good thing about Divination in Harry's opinion was that Trelawney didn't seem surprised that no one could predict anything, which was good because everyone agreed the subject was a load of rubbish. Well everyone except the two girls in front of Harry and Neville.

Parvarti and Lavender had had Trelawney sitting with them for most of the lesson as they asked different questions about the shapes of the wax and Trelawney seemed very happy to oblige.

This left the rest of the class free to do basically whatever they wanted.

"You know how Trelawney said she knew you were gonna come back?" asked Neville idly flicked through the text book.

"Yeah?" replied Harry who was doodling on a spare bit of parchment.

"Well last week Lavender asked her if she knew where you were and she basically told us that you had…well died" Neville finished lamely.

Harry snorted; it didn't surprise him in the slightest. "Well though it pains me to put her abilities under question I'm afraid she might've been wrong" said Harry.

Neville chuckled and leaned back and looked around the room. He'd never really enjoyed Divination before, come to that he never really enjoyed most of his classes, but sitting with Harry and talking about various things he found himself enjoying the lesson quite a lot despite not learning a thing.

Again his mood was spoiled a little when he saw Ron still watching him with and ugly look on his face. Neville gave him a weak smile which Ron didn't return. Neville went back to the book and put Ron from his mind.

Eventually the class ended and the students filed towards the silver step ladder and down the spiral staircase.

"Transfiguration now right?" asked Harry as he yawned, Divination always made him feel sleepy.

"Yeah" replied Neville "hey Harry, is it alright if I sit with you in Divination next time?"

Harry looked at him for a second, the swell of sympathy he'd had before grew and he felt slightly angry at everyone that hadn't made the effort to get to know Neville properly over the years, himself included.

"Yeah course it is" answer Harry "Sit with me and Hermione in transfiguration if you want"

Neville started to speak but stopped himself and just said "Thanks"

Going down a couple of floors the two boys were met by a rather breathless Hermione who gave Harry a quick hug before turning to Neville.

"Hi Neville, how're you?" she asked.

"I'm fine" came the reply from Neville, he'd gotten used to talking to Harry but he felt a little shy around Hermione. She always helped him when he needed it and he greatly respected her for it and if he was honest he had a small crush on her but he'd never act on it, especially now Hermione and Harry were together as he was genuinely happy for them.

Harry leant forward and gave Hermione a lingering kiss on the lips "Neville's gonna sit with us"

"Oh ok" said Hermione with a smile. She hadn't been sure how Harry would want to approach their new relationship but now she knew after that not so private or innocent kiss in the middle of the corridor that he was happy to let people know they were together.

"So" began Hermione as they made their way to Professor McGonagall's classroom "I assume from your lack of surprise you know about me and Harry?" she asked Neville as she looped her arm around Harry's.

"Yes I do" smiled Neville "Harry told me, I'm happy for you"

Hermione and Harry smiled at him and thanked him.

They finally got to the classroom and, at Hermione's insistence, sat at the front of the room and waited for Professor McGonagall to arrive.

Harry sat with Hermione on his right and Neville on his left and wondered if he'd be able to do the work McGonagall set. Jericho had taught him some spell work in all fields but it was mainly for combat but he had also taught him how to adapt the spells for different needs.

Professor McGonagall arrived and marched to the front and quickly called for silence.

"Today you will be practicing the spell to transfigure a solid object into liquid. The incantation is simple _Mutatio Liquidus._ The wand movement is a slow sweep over the object. Let's see what you can do"

She waved her wand and several bowls and apples flew to each student.

Hermione immediately set to work and Harry smiled in amusement at her enthusiasm. The good thing was Jericho had taught him this spell albeit and more powerful version that was used mainly in a fight to get rid of an enemy's cover or if they used a physical shield. So all he had to do was hold back on the power and he should have it.

Hermione succeeded first reducing her apple into juice. Harry had a little trouble regulating the power on his first go and liquefied the bowl as well but got it right on the second try after Professor McGonagall restored his bowl and apple.

Neville was having trouble; he just couldn't get anything to happen. Hermione took pity on him like usual and offered some pointers.

"You're not putting enough power into the spell" she explained "try putting more magic into it"

Neville nodded but looked nervous as he tried the spell again.

"_M-mutatio Liquidus_" he stuttered but nothing happened again.

Neville sighed "I'm trying…"

"Neville don't be scared of your magic" said Harry in a calming voice "don't be afraid that something might happen, that is why you're here you know" he grinned.

Neville looked at Harry's encouraging face and Hermione's nod and nodded back raising his wand.

"_Mutatio Liquidus!" _ He said in a strong voice that took him by surprise.

The apple immediately melted down along the bowl and desk leaving and oddly coloured puddle in front of the three.

Harry burst out laughing and Hermione giggled a little. Neville however was sitting there shocked; he'd never managed anything very impressive or noteworthy before with magic, unless you counted potions where he blew up a cauldron by adding the wrong ingredient.

But here he sat after just melting an entire desk; it felt…good if he was honest. For some reason he felt proud of the mistake he'd just made.

Neville looked across at Harry who was still laughing along with Dean Thomas who was sat behind him and Hermione who looked amused but was retaining her composure.

Professor McGonagall came across to the group quickly "Mr Potter, Mr Thomas please be quiet. Mr Longbottom that certainly was an outstanding display of power, now I suggest you get it under control as I need my desks for my other classes" she said the corner of her lips twitching.

Neville smiled slightly and Harry and Hermione both grinned at him as the bell rung signalling the end of class.

"Your homework is to practice that spell for next lesson as we will be attempting it on larger objects" called McGonagall

"Although Neville doesn't really need the practice" grinned Dean

Harry clapped Neville on the back as he smiled shyly.

"I'm going to the library" announced Hermione "So I'll see you later"

"Wait, I'll come with you" said Harry and he took Hermione's hand to show he was really coming no matter what she said.

Hermione smiled at him and pecked him on the cheek "Do you want to come Neville?" She asked.

"I've got some homework to do but it's up in the tower, so I'll come down a minute" Neville answered.

"OK see you later" Harry said and the he and Hermione walked off arm in arm.

Neville smiled to himself as he set off for Gryffindor tower, he'd never had someone actively include him in their plans.

But for the third time that day his good mood was brought down by a red headed teenager. Neville saw Ron leaning against the wall at the far end of the corridor and was once again glowering at him. Neville felt nervous but tried not to let it show but wasn't sure he was succeeding, as he got closer to Ron Neville smiled at him and tried to act friendly, he didn't want trouble.

"Hi Ron" said Neville as he walked by but was stopped by Ron as he flung his arm out in front of Neville.

"Uhh…" began Neville but Ron silenced him with a look.

"Don't think I don't know what you're trying to do" growled Ron "I'm onto you and I won't let you get away with it"

Ron grabbed Neville's collar and pushed him against the wall but stopped before he did anything else as a crowd of students entered the corridor. With one final look at Neville Ron stalked off.

Neville stood there for several minutes processing what had just happened. He was no stranger to bullying unfortunately but what Ron had said made no sense to him and it sounded like the ginger wizard wasn't finished.

Neville finally set off again towards the tower to get his books, now more than ever he wanted to go hang out with Harry and Hermione. He felt different in their presence, they gave him confidence and a feeling of self-worth he'd been lacking for most of his life.

Over in the library Hermione was deeply engrossed in her studying and Harry was deeply engrossed in his girlfriend. He was supposed to be studying too but kept finding himself resting his head on his hand and staring at Hermione as she worked taking in every little detail about her.

After about twenty minutes Hermione set her quill down and turned to Harry with a slight smirk on her face.

"I'm flattered by the attention Harry but you're making it hard for me to concentrate" she said giggling slightly at Harry's dazed expression before he suddenly snapped to attention.

"Sorry Mione" he grinned and scratched the back of his head

"It's ok" she giggled "A boyfriend can stare at his girlfriend I think"

Harry laughed and leaned back in his chair.

"Hey I was just thinking" said Hermione turning back to her work "didn't that man, Jericho, say Snuffles was coming today?"

"Yeah" yawned Harry "not 'till tonight though"

"That's right" Hermione nodded "Where is Jericho anyway?"

"I dunno" replied Harry "He might be still asleep, when we were in South America he would give me the weekend off of training and would sometimes sleep until at least twelve thirty" Harry laughed at the memory.

"So did you enjoy your training then?" asked Hermione.

Harry looked wary at this question but Hermione smiled "I'm not mad at you anymore; I know you didn't mean it. I'm just curious that's all, it seems like you did enjoy it"

Harry relaxed a little at these words and nodded "I did enjoy it; it was hard work and frustrating a lot but when I did get it right it really felt like I had achieved something which made me try for the next piece of training. And Jericho is a really good teacher, he could explain what I had to do in a way I could understand knew how to motivate me"

Hermione smiled, it was clear to her that Harry really had enjoyed his time in South America and was glad that he had found such a good friend and teacher in Jericho.

At that moment Neville ambled into the library looking a little lost and upset, Hermione got up and lead him to their table.

"Neville what's wrong?" she asked.

Neville was silent for a moment and then muttered "Ron…just…well…um"

Harry leaned forward "Ron did what?"

"I was…was walking back to the tower and he stopped me and…and well threatened me"

"What!" exclaimed Harry and started to get up but Hermione put a consoling hand on his shoulder and he sank back into his seat.

"How did he threaten you Neville?" Hermione asked.

"He…well I think he threatened me…he didn't make a lot of sense, he said he knew what I was doing and that he wouldn't let me get away with it…and then he shoved me against the wall and was going to hit me I think but some people came and he left" explained Neville.

Harry growled a little and his eyes flashed a bright purple but Hermione kept her hand on his arm and rubbed soothing circles along it "What did he mean he knows what you're doing?" she asked Neville who shook his head.

"I've no idea, honestly" said Neville.

Hermione nodded and Harry looked up at Neville.

"If he tries anything again Nev don't back down from him, don't let him think your intimidated because it'll just make him that much more confident he can get away with it" Harry said with a strange glint in his eye Neville had never seen before.

Neville was on the verge of using his usual excuse, that he didn't want more trouble, but the look on Harry's face made Neville stop and nod.

For the rest of the day Neville thought about what Harry had said and the feeling of confidence he'd felt when listening to Harry speak.

He did try to avoid Ron when he could and Harry and Hermione stayed close too, they wanted Neville to stand up for himself but didn't want to give Ron any opportunity to do whatever it was he wanted to do.

The final bell rung at long last students poured out of classrooms and down to dinner or towards dormitories.

Harry, Hermione and Neville were heading back to Gryffindor tower to drop of their bags before dinner. Harry who didn't have any supplies or a bag waited for the other two outside the portrait hole for a few minutes before Hermione emerged from it.

"Hello" she said when she saw Harry leaning against the wall "waiting for someone?" she asked with a smirk.

"Yes I am actually" replied Harry playing along "I'm waiting for my girlfriend, you haven't seen her have you? She's about your height, same colour hair and just as beautiful too"

Hermione blushed and punched him lightly on the arm before pulling him into a passionate kiss that lasted for a few moments before a shout wrenched the air.

"WHAT!"

Harry and Hermione jumped apart and turned to see Ron stood gawking at them positively spitting with rage.

"What?" said Harry coldly, he moved slightly to the right putting himself between Hermione and Ron.

"You…You…YOU and Hermione...what?...how?...no, this isn't fair! You can't do this! First you listen to HER over me then you start going out with her!" Ron rambled on for a few minutes in which time Neville had come back and climbed through the portrait hole.

"Yes me and Hermione are together, although it's none of your business" stated Harry putting his arm protectively around Hermione's shoulders.

"NO" yelled Ron "you can't do this…all you do is take all the attention and leave none for anyone else and now…now…NOW…"

Harry could tell Ron was going to go on for a while so decided to get out of there. He pulled Hermione gently along with him and motioned to Neville to follow.

The three had just passed by Ron when he managed to get the rest of his sentence out.

"Now you get together with her just to make yourself seem better than me!" spat Ron.

Harry stopped walking but didn't turn around "I'm with Hermione because I lo-like her, I couldn't care less what that makes me in your eyes. Get over yourself"

Harry started walking again but Neville yelled "look out!"

Harry turned his head sharply and saw Ron rushing towards him with his fists raised, Harry reacted instinctively and brought his elbow up to meet Ron's face. There was an audible crack and Ron was thrown to the floor where he held his nose and whimpered into the marble.

Harry looked down at Ron with an ugly look on his face "Just leave me alone in future Ron"  
He turned and walked away down the corridor, Hermione and Neville cast Ron a finally glance and hurried after Harry.

Later down at dinner, Harry was still a little subdued but brightened visible when Hermione reminded him about Sirius's visit later on.

Neville who had never heard a name quite as silly as 'Snuffles' was confused but didn't press the matter and carried on eating.

"Hey does anyone know where Ron is?" asked Seamus Finnegan to the table at large.

"Yeah he's up in the hospital wing" came the reply from Ginny "he broke his nose somehow"

Harry looked down and Neville shuffled his feet a little but no one questioned them.

"How?" asked Dean.

"I've no idea" shrugged Ginny "He said he fell down the stairs to begin with when I found him wandering the halls but when we got up to Madam Pomfrey he was saying he walked into a door"

Harry put his fork down and stood up "I'll be in the common room" he muttered and walked away.

Hermione immediately got up too "I'll see you later Neville"

Hermione quickly caught up with Harry and grabbed his hand.

"What's wrong Harry?" she asked

Harry stared at the floor for a moment before sighing and looking Hermione in the eyes.

"I trained so that I could protect people not beat people up because they annoyed me" he muttered.

Hermione looked confused for a second before she understood.

"Harry you've no reason to feel bad about Ron. He started it, and I'm pretty sure if you hadn't stopped him like you did he would have hurt you and maybe me and Neville. So cheer up you were doing exactly what you trained for, you were protecting me and Neville, ok?" Hermione put a finger under his chin and lifted his head a little and kissed him on the lips.

Harry smiled a little "OK, you're right. Sorry I was just abit…"

"I know, he was supposed to be your friend" nodded Hermione "But you know all this talk about only using your skills to protect people, you are allowed to protect yourself you know" she finished with a wry grin.

Harry grinned too "I'll bear that in mind" and leaned forward and planted a kiss on her lips that ended up lasting a good few minutes.

"Let's go up to the common room" Hermione said a little breathlessly and led him up the stairs.

Later that night at around 8.00pm a handsome brown owl flew through the window and landed next to Harry in the common room. Harry relived it of the scroll tied to its leg and it took off again through the window.

Unsealing it a grin spread on his face and he turned to Hermione and leaned close.

"It's from Dumbledore" he whispered "Snuffles is here"

Hermione smiled at the happiness showing on Harry's face.

"Do you want to come?" he asked to which the answer was yes.

The two made excuses and quickly left the common room and set off for Dumbledore's office hand in hand.

Finally arriving at the great stone gargoyle Harry consulted the scroll again and saw that Dumbledore had a taste for apple tart.

Harry grinned and said the password.

The gargoyle hopped aside and the two mounted the spiral staircase and arrived at the office door. Harry knocked and a voice called "Enter"

He pushed the door open and stepped inside and was almost immediately engulfed in an enormous bear hug.

"S-Sirius…can't…breathe!" Harry gasped and Hermione giggled.

Sirius let go of his godson and held him at arm's length.

"Don't ever disappear like that again" Sirius stated seriously but then smirked "Unless you let me in on the joke"

Harry chuckled and nodded "I promise Sirius. I'm sorry I worried you"

"So what's happened? Where are your glasses? Dumbledore said you were training, what in?" Sirius asked question after question.

"Wait slow down Sirius" Harry laughed. "What happened was…"

For the next half an hour Harry talked about his time in South America, his training and what happened to him. He also mentioned that he and Hermione were dating to which Sirius laughed.

"I knew you two were perfect for each other. Knew it from the first moment you stole a Hippogriff together to rescue me from having my soul sucked out"

The offices occupants laughed at this until Dumbledore posed a question.

"Harry, would it be possible for you to show us your transformation? I understand you haven't got it quite right yet but it is still rather remarkable"

"Err yeah sure" Harry answered and stood up.

He stretched out his arms and covered his skin in black scales. His eyes turned bright purple and his teeth sharpened along with his nails until he had claws.

Sirius gave a low whistle and Dumbledore said "Impressive"

Hermione stared at her boyfriend, she had talked about Harrys transformation with him and got a glimpse of it the night before but hadn't properly seen it until now.

Harry looked at her with a anxious expression until she exclaimed "That's amazing" and Harry let out a sigh of relief and gave a toothy smile.

Harry turned back into himself and sat down again.

"So you can turn into a full dragon too?" asked Sirius eagerly.

"Um…well no, not yet. But I should be able to with more practice" Harry explained sheepishly.

"So can I meet the guy that took you away or what?" asked Sirius standing up.

Dumbledore looked at Harry "Would that be ok Harry? What with Sirius's status and all"

Harry nodded "Jericho's sort of in the same boat anyway. What with that law…"

Dumbledore nodded and pulled out his wand "I'll message him"

"No need Professor" said Harry who turned and called "Jericho" to the room at large.

A second later a burst of flame erupted in the centre of the room causing Hermione to grab Harry's arm in fright and Sirius let out a shout of surprise. Another second later and Jericho was stood where the fire had previously been wearing pyjamas and an annoyed expression.

"I'm not a pet you know Harry" he grumbled "You can't just whistle and I'll come running"

"Yet you did" smirked Harry who stood up.

Jericho muttered "Smart arse" causing Harry to laugh.

"Anyway Jericho this is my godfather, Sirius Black. Sirius this is my Animagus teacher and friend Jericho Ignis" Harry introduced the two.

The two shook hands and with Sirius giving Jericho a critically eye.

"So you took my godson away?" he asked.

"I did" replied Jericho "However it was always his own choice"

"And you taught him how to fight and protect himself and others, correct?" Sirius asked

"Yes I did" answer Jericho.

There was a pause for a second, in which Harry looked between the serious expressions on the two men until Sirius broke in a smile.

"Thank you" he said simply.

Jericho chuckled "My pleasure…thanks for not hitting me"

Sirius laughed and clapped him on the shoulder "That was going to be my first response"

The two me laughed together and Harry and Hermione chuckled along with Dumbledore.

"Anyway Harry, I wanted to talk to you" said Jericho "Last night you grew your wings perfectly to the right size"

Harry nodded "Yeah…I don't know how though. I just sort of…did it, because I needed them"

Jericho nodded too "I told you the best way to bring out your abilities is to place yourself in a situation where they can help, where you need them did I not?"

Harry nodded but looked a little put out "But I'm not sure how to do it again"

"Don't worry about it, you said the same thing when you breathed fire for the first time and now you can rival a true dragon with your breathe" Jericho said with a smirk causing everyone to chuckle.

Harry gave him and annoyed glare but smirked too.

"So anyway" continued Jericho "I think you're ready to fly"

* * *

Author's notes

First of I know you probably all hate me for the long delay and you have every right to but theres been millions of things going on lately such as new job, leaving home and going to Uni all happening at once and I had almost no free time.  
I can only hope you can all find it in your hearts to forgive me, I am always thinking about this story.

So abit of Neville in this chapter, always liked him and I just wanted to bring him into the lime light a little more.

To Chigatana – I'm not sure how many Awakened Animagi there will be but there will be quite a few. There are some important main ones as well as just some that are generic enemies to be faced or fought alongside of. But I want to get some diversity in with them.

To robst – yes this is definitely my first story lol but thanks for the compliment.

To Jarno – I'm glad that I've made you think about it and you're getting into the story. But to answer your questions, the vulture Animagi wasn't supposed to be particularly powerful. He was just a fetch and carry sort of bloke, but rest assured that there will be some strong Animagi in the story both magical and non-magical. I agree that magical animals have an advantage over non-magical but it depends on how they use their powers that shows how good they are.  
Your second question I also agree with, a dragon Animagi would be in charge if it was based on pure power along but let's not forget that power isn't everything and besides in order for Harry, the dragon, to take charge he would have to fight and possibly kill to get anywhere near the seat of power as I think we both agree that Fudge or whoever was in charge wouldn't just step aside because he asked them to. It's obvious that some muggleborns are better than purebloods academically but the ministry still allows bigotry and racism towards them and shows favour to purebloods despite muggleborns being better qualified and more magically powerful. The law on Awakened Animagi is just another example of this, people in power were felt threatened by the Animagi and tried to control them in order to keep their seat of power. Sure there could have been an uprising of some sort but just because the Animagi have power doesn't mean they wish to use it to take over, there just normal people in the end.

And as for before when I said I wasn't making Harry too powerful I don't think I explained it very well, I apologise. Harry will be strong and powerful, but he won't blast through everything like its nothing. He will have to try and there will be moments when things look grim. And don't worry about a Dragon being just a big target, I've taken that into account.

Hope I've answered your questions, if not please ask again.

That goes for everyone.

Please Review


	10. Chapter 10

"And you're sure about this?" Harry asked for the hundredth time.

Jericho sighed "for the millionth time, YES!" he yelled causing Hermione to giggle and Sirius to laugh openly.

They were stood atop a large cliff a few miles away from Hogwarts; Dumbledore had brought them to it when Jericho had explained what they needed to teach Harry to fly. Harry was currently stood near the edge of the cliff with no shirt on and a nervous expression on his face.

"Well excuse me if I'm a little nervous about diving off a cliff!" countered Harry.

"Look if you don't get it by the time you're a few feet off the ground I'll catch you, ok?" said Jericho.

"A few feet!" shouted Harry going pale.

Jericho just grinned and pushed Harry forwards to the very edge of the cliff "OK, in your own time." Said Jericho quietly "Just remember that you've done it before, so you can do it you've proved that"

"You CAN do it Harry" called Hermione.

"Makes us proud" grinned Sirius.

In truth the two were extremely scared for Harry but didn't want to freak him out any more than he was.

Jericho took a few steps back from Harry and stood in stance that suggested he was ready to spring into action.

Harry took a deep breath and readied himself, he tried not to look down and instead kept his eyes fixed on the distant horizon trying to convince himself that he was going to reach it using his very own wings.

No one spoke and all that could be heard was a slight breath of wind as everyone stared at Harry's poised form.

Just as Harry bent his knees to leap from the cliff edge a loud POP sounded causing everyone to jump in fright as someone apparated next Sirius.

"Ah hello, did I miss it?" asked Dumbledore politely looking around.

Harry knelt down on one knee and rubbed his eyes as he tried to stop his body from shaking.

"N-no professor" replied Hermione shakily.

"Ah, excellent" smiled Dumbledore turning to Harry "good luck my boy" he called.

Harry nodded and stood up and turned back to face the horizon, he closed his eyes and steadied himself for a second taking a deep breath. He opened his eyes and let it out in a low whistle.

Harry locked his eyes on the horizon once more and then dove off the cliff.

He felt the air rush past him as he spread his arms wide and began to fall as he willed his powers to work and give him wings.

He fell faster and faster as he willed his wings into existence and the closer the ground got the more frustrated he felt, he could do this, he'd done it before.

When he was about fifty foot away from the ground Harry left out a frustrated snarl and felt something emerge from two points on his shoulder blades, feeling he had done it Harry tried to flap his wings but rather than seeing them beat the air either side of him and have his descent slowed nothing happened.

Beginning to panic Harry started to flail in the air desperately trying to slow his fall towards the rapidly approaching ground.

When he was a few feet from the ground Harry let out a frightened yell and closed his eyes and braced himself for the impact but then felt two arms wrap around his waist and then his vision was filled with fire and then he was on solid ground.

Jericho let go off Harry and rolled to the side and lay on his back looking over at Harry "you ok?" he asked.

Harry was breathing heavily on all fours and glanced at Jericho and nodded.

"Harry, are you ok?" asked a frantic Hermione as she raced towards the two alongside Sirius, Dumbledore was taking long strides in their direction but seemed unworried.

Harry sat up on his knees and groaned in frustration as Hermione skidded next to him and wrapped him in a bone crushing hug.

"I'm ok, honestly" chuckled Harry returning the hug.

Sirius reached the two teenagers and watched their exchange in amusement before something caught his eye on Harry's back. Looking closer he threw his head back and roared with laughter.

Harry and Hermione broke apart and looked at Sirius in confusion as he bent double with laughter and pointed at Harry's back.

Harry tried looking over his shoulder but couldn't see anything so looked at Hermione in question.  
Hermione was staring at Harry's back and her face was going steadily pinker until she let loose a fit of giggles.

Getting embarrassed Harry grumpily asked "What?"

Dumbledore who was stood with an amused smile on his face extracted his wand and conjured a large mirror behind harry who looked over his shoulder and saw protruding from his back two tiny wings that as he was staring at them fluttered slightly causing Sirius to laugh harder and Hermione to exclaim "They're so cute!"

Harry's face went beet red and he spun to face the cliff edge with a resolute look on his face.

He set off at a sprint towards the cliff edge and ignoring the shouts from Hermione and Sirius dove off the edge into the air.

Hermione sat on the ground where Harry had left her and watched as her boyfriend dove from the edge off the cliff and fell out of sight. Shock kept her where she was as Jericho set off running towards the cliff edge too but before he'd even taken five steps a shadowy figure erupted into the air supported by two large spiny black wings.

Harry rose higher and higher as he beat the air with his new wings, he eventually decided to head back to the ground so he banked right and flipped round and began to hover in mid-air as he looked down at the four figures that were watching him, one waved at him with both arms and he waved back before he began to dive.

The ground came rushing to meet him once again but this time he found he wasn't afraid and a smile found its way onto his lips. Five feet off the ground Harry beat the air with a powerful stroke from his wings causing him to temporarily stop in mid-air for a second before he shrunk his wings back into his body and dropped down on the hard earth.

He was immediately tackled by Hermione who hugged the life out of him as she told him how proud she was of him and to never ever do something like that again.

Harry laughed and hugged Hermione back and picked her up and spun her around.

"Well done Harry!" called Sirius who was laughing again.

"Indeed, very impressive I must say" beamed Dumbledore.

"It's about time" smirked Jericho.

Harry grinned at them all before he soundly kissed Hermione on the lips suddenly oblivious to the three men stood watching. He didn't care, at the moment he felt like he was still flying.

* * *

Having finally learnt how to fly Harry had spent the rest of the day flying around getting used to his new wings and how they worked. The next day was a Sunday so Harry woke early and decided to go for a morning fly simply because he had dreamt about doing so all night and felt a thrill of exhilaration that he actually could go out and re-enact his dream.

He reached the entrance hall and quickly peered inside the great hall just to check Hermione wasn't there. He scanned the Gryffindor table and saw no sign of his girlfriend so he turned to head outside.

Ginny was sat at the end of the Gryffindor table nearest the doors, she was chatting with some friends but broke off abruptly when she saw Harry stick his head just inside the doors and look in her direction, he didn't stay long however and quickly withdrew his head but not before Ginny had jumped up out of her seat. This was the chance she'd been waiting for.

She jogged out into the entrance hall and saw Harry crossing it towards the massive double doors leading outside. Steeling herself she quickly called out to him to wait.

Harry spun around and saw the red headed girl hurrying towards him.

"Morning Ginny" Harry said "What's up?

"Morning" replied Ginny "nothing is, I just wondered if I could talk to you?" she said trying her best to make her eyes as big as possible.

"Err…sure" said Harry scratching the back of his head.

Ginny smiled her sweetest smile and led Harry off to a corner of the hall. She turned to face him and found him looking curiously at her. This made her smile.

"I just wanted to say I'm glad your back" said Ginny smiling at him again.

"Oh…thanks…um" Harry muttered. Ginny's smile was unnerving him a little, it was almost predatory.

Ginny's smile widened her next words came out "Some people said you weren't going to come back, but I knew you'd never leave me" She almost whispered these last words.

"Yeah well…thanks…um I wouldn't turn my back on you…your like my little sister" Harry smiled awkwardly. Something was very wrong with Ginny this morning.

Ginny's eyes had bugged out a little at Harry's words but she quickly recovered herself.

"I'm not so little anymore you know Harry" Ginny purred playfully as she pushed her chest out towards Harry who was now really nervous.

"Um…no I guess not" Harry gulped and looked away from Ginny who was now doing her best to get him to look down her very loose fitting shirt.

Harry had now realised what was wrong with Ginny and he didn't know what to do, so he did the only thing he could think of.

"I have to get going now Ginny, see you later" Harry quickly stuttered and then pretty much sprinted across the hall and out of the front doors.

Ginny was temporarily stunned by Harry's quick exit but she quickly recovered and chased after Harry out the front doors, but instead of seeing him on the stone steps or crossing the lawn he was nowhere to be seen. She looked all around the grounds carefully from her vantage point at the top of the steps but saw no one. She even looked up when she heard something that sounded like wings but it was only and owl returning to the owlery.

Ginny huffed and went back inside, why couldn't boys just admit their feelings? She thought annoyed. Oh well she'd see him again later, and then she'd make she sure that Harry saw her as a woman, not a little sister.

Meanwhile up on the roof of the entrance hall, Harry was lying on his back and staring at the clouds in the sky. That had been terrifying he thought. He knew Ginny had a crush on him but he never expected her to be so forward, it had scared his brain into shut down. He knew he'd have to tell Ginny that he didn't like her like that and about him and Hermione but he had no idea how to do so. It was at this moment that he felt a surge of pride and relief that he was dating the smartest witch of their age.

A few hours later Harry entered the library to find Hermione and Neville studying in the corner. He went over to them and gave Hermione a hug from behind that made her give a squeak of surprise.

"Don't do that" she berated him but kissed his cheek none the less.

"Hey Harry" said Neville "where were you this morning?"

"I was uh…flying" Harry responded with a grin towards Hermione who smiled back.

"Oh ok" said Neville "I can't see how you find being on a broom fun, it terrifies me"

Harry looked at Neville and cocked his head slightly "How come?" he asked.

Neville looked up from the book he was reading and looked at Harry in confusion.

"Well uh… because I could fall" he stated as if it were obvious.

"Ah well if that's all then don't think about it" Harry grinned "You've just got to remember that you're in control of the broom, so you do what you want to do. And if you don't want to crash then don't crash"

Neville looked at Harry in amazement as he turned to talk to Hermione. He was going to say that it wasn't that simple but now that he thought about it, it sort of was. No one said he had to go fast and if he didn't go too fast then he wouldn't crash!

A large smile suddenly graced Neville's face as a strange warm feeling bubbled up inside him.

"Um…Harry?" Neville began.

"Hmm?" replied Harry.

"Would it be ok if I leant your…your Firebolt?" asked Neville looking at the desk.

Harry exchanged a look with Hermione who looked just as surprised as him.

"Yeah sure Nev" said Harry "Why though?"

Neville took a moment before answering "I don't know, I've just got this feeling that if I tried right now I'd be able to fly, without crashing. I don't know why I just do…"

Harry smiled and told Neville to get it whenever he wanted from his trunk. Neville thanked him profusely and hurried off looking excited and terrified at the same time.

Harry watched him go with amazement then turned to Hermione.

"I'm glad he's gone actually, there's something I need to talk to you about Mione"

"What is it?" asked Hermione setting down her quill.

"Well earlier when I was on my way outside to go flying, Ginny stopped me" explained Harry.

Hermione gave a small sigh, she had been expecting Ginny to do something ever since Harry had come back.

"Go on, what happened?" Hermione pressed.

Harry took a breath and explained how Ginny had basically thrown herself at him in the entrance hall.

"What should I do Mione?" Harry asked now very red.

Hermione was smiling in amusement at Harry's obvious discomfort; she leaned over and gave him a peck on the lips.

"Nothing, eventually she'll hear about us and leave you alone" Hermione said, although she was exactly convinced about the leaving alone part "and if she finds you before then just explain politely that we're seeing each other"

Harry gaped at how simple she made it sound and nodded.

Neville was carefully carrying Harry's broom towards the quidditch pitch trying to decide what had made him do this.

The feeling from before had gone and now he just felt scared and embarrassed but he knew that he'd feel even more embarrassed if he saw Harry later and had to tell him he'd chickened out.

So Neville finally got outside and marched determinedly towards the quidditch pitch trying to not show any fear. He eventually made it on the well-kept grass of the pitch and trying to ignore the nerves that were causing his body to shake mounted the Firebolt and kicked off hard.

He zoomed upwards clinging tightly to the broomstick unable to turn or decelerate due to fear, he cleared the top of the stands when Harry's voice echoed in his mind. _Do what you want to do. _

Mastering himself for a second Neville pulled up sharply and turned back towards the ground and shot at it at full speed. Neville let out a whoop of joy as he realised he wasn't afraid so deciding to correct his earlier fault he turned once again and shot towards the sky, this time of his own violation.

Neville grinned at the sun as he pulled the broom upwards in order to stop and hover but in his excitement he pulled up to harshly and he felt the broom flip over and startled by this he let go off the broom over seventy feet off the ground.

Neville began to fall towards the ground but he let out no scream of fear or tried to save himself. He felt numb from the injustice of it all, he had finally done something properly, done something to be proud off and he'd managed to mess it all up by being, ironically enough, overconfident.

Neville fell with his back to the ground staring up at clouds as the air rushed past him, as he past the top of the quidditch stands again he closed his eyes and waited, resigned to his fate.

Oddly enough he felt no fear and his mind was oddly clear. Suddenly he felt something clench on his back and he felt his descent stop at the same time he swore he heard the shrieking cry of some kind of bird. Before he had chance to process this or even open his eyes he felt his feet lightly touch the ground and the clenching on his back lifted.

Neville stood for a second with his eyes still closed trying to work out what had just happened. He slowly opened his eyes and was surprised to see a man stood in front of him wearing a mysterious smile.

"That was impressive" said the man "Maybe you should practice abit before trying it again though eh?" the man chuckled at the look on Neville's face.

Neville stared at the strange man; he had shoulder length black hair that had a blue streak in it. And he was wearing muggle clothes, a white shirt and dark trousers and boots.

"I'm Jericho" said the man holding out his hand "you are?"

"Neville" murmured Neville in response as he took the strangers hand.

"Ah Neville Longbottom?" asked Jericho interested.

Neville nodded and opened his mouth to ask how he knew his last name but Jericho beat him to it.

"Harry's told me a bit about you" Jericho said with a grin.

Neville just stared at the man, he knew Harry? And Harry had spoken about him to this man? Why?

"Anyway I'll see you around" said Jericho turning to leave.

It took a moment for Neville to register this and he called across to the man "Thanks for saving me"

Jericho turned to look at Neville with a searching gaze before he just smirked and walked away.

Neville turned to find Harry's Firebolt but suddenly noticed a glint of gold near his feet, he stooped down and picked up a feather, a golden feather that looked as if it belong to a very large bird.

Confused Neville pocketed the feather; he felt a need to keep it for some reason. He marched across the pitch to where Harry's Firebolt had landed still trying to piece together what had just happened and praying that Harry's broom hadn't been damaged.

* * *

Harry and Hermione had enjoyed their time alone for the afternoon. Not that they minded Neville's company it was just nice to be a alone as a couple for a few hours.

The had stayed in the library for a while before going down to lunch and then they had walked hand in hand around the castle just chatting and joking.

The two had just decided to go find Neville and see how he had got on flying on Harry's broom when three very unwelcome people entered the corridor from the opposite end.

Malfoy and his pet gorillas Crabbe and Goyle had had a good time at Hogwarts so far this year. Without Potter around to challenge Draco at every turn people had been showing Draco the respect he deserved and he couldn't have been happier about it. Now that Potter had returned he was going to let that new found respect fall from his grasp.

When Malfoy saw Harry and Hermione walking towards him his face split into his patented smirk and he marched forward and block the corridor for the young couple.

"Ahh Potter" drawled Malfoy "So good of you to show your ugly face again"

Crabbe and Goyle grunted in amusement at this but Harry just sighed and kept walking holding Hermione close to him.

When the two got close to roadblock that was mostly Crabbe and Goyle Harry just quietly asked them to move.

Crabbe who was closest to Harry looked around in confusion at Malfoy not sure what to do.

"Don't ignore me Potter!" spat Malfoy.

"Look, please just move" said Harry just as quietly "I can't be bothered dealing with you anymore"

Malfoy's face contorted with rage "How dare you just brush me aside, I am a Malfoy! Show your proper respect!" shouted Draco.

"Respect is earned Malfoy, please move" Harry said, pulling Hermione into him a little more. Although she wasn't sure Hermione suspected he was moving her out of harm's way.

Malfoy plunged his hand into his robes and whipped out his wand and pointed it at Harry's face, but before he could even think of a spell to use Harry's hand darted forward and snatched the wand from his own hand.

Malfoy gaped at Harry who just looked back untroubled. Harry twirled the wand between his fingers before throwing it over his shoulder where it clattered to the floor a few metres down the corridor and rolled away.

"How dare you! Get him" Malfoy shrieked at Crabbe and Goyle who hastened to obey and stumbled forward drawing back their massive fists.

Harry pushed Hermione behind him just as Crabbe swung at him, Harry caught the ham like fist before it came close to hitting him and then pulled Crabbe forward right into the path of Goyle who's fist connected with the side of Crabbe's head sending him falling to the floor. Goyle looked on at what he'd just done in confusion before Harry's own fist came out of nowhere and socked him hard on the nose, not used to people hitting back and the speed of the punch Goyle fell backwards onto the floor clutching his nose.

Malfoy watched his bodyguards fall and decided to go retrieve his wand, but just as he set off down the corridor Hermione stuck out her leg and sent him sprawling to the floor.

Harry smirked at his Girlfriends antics as he pulled out his wand and stunned Crabbe and Goyle before they got back up.

"How dare you!" screamed Malfoy at Hermione "You filthy mudblood!"

Harry was in front of Hermione in seconds and knelt down next to Malfoy pointing his wand threateningly between the blonde boy's eyes.

"Do not insult her again" Harry breathed "You WILL regret it"

Before Malfoy could scream out another word Harry had stunned him. Harry got to his feet and stowed his wand away then took Hermione's hand and set off down the corridor again.

Hermione allowed herself to be led away but she glanced back at the three unconscious boys.

"That was…impressive" she said matter-of-factly a few minutes afterwards.

"Not really, Malfoy and his goons aren't really a problem anymore" replied Harry unconcerned.

Hermione went silent again for a few minutes as she contemplated just how much Harry was taught during his training, but she eventually put it from her mind.

She stopped walking and pulled Harry towards her who looked at her in question.

"Thank you for defending me" she said as she pulled him in for a reward.

After said reward which left the two slightly out of breath Harry replied.

"Your very welcome" he said with a wry grin.

Draco Malfoy woke up half an hour later when a prefect happened to find him and his two lackeys sprawled out in the corridor. Other students had passed them but hadn't wanted to disturb them, especially after Fred and George had come along and rearrange the three Slytherins into rather compromising positions.

Suffice to say Draco wasn't happy, he had woke up with his arm and leg wrapped around Goyle and he knew exactly who to blame, Harry Potter.

"You'll pay Potter" he hissed to himself as the aforementioned Prefect reminded the three about appropriate behaviour in the corridors "I swear you'll pay"

* * *

Harry and Hermione had eventually found Neville down at dinner, he was rather tight lipped about his broom ride but said that it had been interesting. Not wanting to press him Hermione changed the subject.

"I was just thinking, who do you suppose will be taking Defence against the Dark Arts now?" she asked while looking up at the head table looking for a new face.

Harry shrugged "Maybe Snape'll do it for a while like he when he took over for Lupin n third year" he commented.

Neville went pale at this and Hermione cocked her head in thoughtfulness.

"Maybe" she said "Guess we'll find out tomorrow"

When tomorrow came there was much discussion on the subject of the new Professor, but no one had any real idea who it might be.

Eventually the bell rung to signal the fifth year Gryffindors that it was time for Defence against the Dark Arts.

Harry and Hermione arrived hand in hand which cause a slight stir to those that hadn't already been informed of the new relationship between the two.

"Oooh are you two dating now?" asked a very interested Lavender Brown.

The two nodded slightly uncomfortable, they didn't mind people knowing about them they just knew how much Lavender liked to gossip.

Everyone took their seats and waited. After ten minutes people began to chat and Neville began to relax a little, he knew Snape wouldn't be this late to class.

Suddenly there was a loud crash as the classroom door was blown off its hinges and a volley of spells was sent flying into the students midst.

Several people screamed and dove under their desks others that were sat at the back of the room weren't quick enough on the uptake and were hit and fell to the floor.

The moment the door had been blasted Harry had leapt to his feet and withdrawn his wand and cast several shields over himself and his classmates before firing several stunners into the dust and debris surrounding the door.

The spells stopped flying and there was silence for a second before someone started clapping. The students looked on in utter confusion as a man stepped into the room over the battered remains of the door applauding.

He was smiling an amused smile and his shoulder length black hair was brushed back away from his face rather than in the messy style Harry was used to seeing it in, you could still see the blue streak regardless however.

Several students began to draw their wands; others were still too shocked to move. Neville was wearing a mixed expression of fear, confusion and recognition.

Hermione was looking confused but unafraid and Harry had lowered his wand and was grinning.

"Hello everyone" said the man "I'm Professor Ignis, and to quote your previous Professor: Constant Vigilance!"

Several students fainted.

* * *

Authors Note

Hello everyone. Another update, rest assured I will not abandon this story. Real life just keeps getting in the way more than I'd like it to.

Glad everyone's enjoying the story, hope you continue to do so. Keep reviewing, and to everyone that hasn't reviewed yet please do! It keeps me writing and it only takes two minutes


	11. Chapter 11

After a few weeks most of the student population looked forward to Defence against the Dark Arts with a sort of nervous excitement.

Jericho, or Professor Ignis as he was now known to most, seemed to have a knack for teaching but he also seemed to have a taste for demonstrations which is what made most students nervous about his classes.

Since Jericho's first lesson as a Professor when he had blasted open the door and stunned several students before Harry had fought back he had arrived at each and every one of his classes in a similar manner.

In a third year lesson he had concealed himself beneath his desk and jumped up toppling the desk and started lobbing spells as soon as all the students had sat down. In a seventh year class he had actually blasted through the wall and rained spells down upon the young adults.

Everyone now was constantly on the alert when they entered his classroom, even if it wasn't for lessons, and had started working together in order to completely search the whole classroom before they took their seats, not that this helped much when the teacher is waiting outside the classroom window on a broom.

The fifth year Gryffindors were currently on their way to DADA and were talking amongst themselves on how best to enter the room.

"Where do you think he'll be this time?" asked Parvarti Patil of no one in particular.

"Dunno" replied Dean Thomas "Last time he was stuck on the ceiling so…"

"Some third years told me in their lesson he was hiding in that cupboard near the door"

"He got the Hufflepuffs from above the door that time remember?"

"He hasn't come up from the floor for a while"

Many theories were thrown about as the group made their way to the classroom, they all instinctively pulled out their wands a corridor away from the classroom, just in case.

When they got there they found a strange sight.

Harry was flat against the wall next to the door peering around the doorframe into the classroom, behind him were Hermione, who looked to be thinking hard and was muttering under her breath, Neville who was pacing a few feet away from the door looking anxious and an assortment of a few other students that all had expressions of worry and concentration on their faces.

"What's going on?" asked Seamus

Neville stopped pacing and looked up at the question with a serious expression on his face "Professor Ignis is sat at his desk "

Several of the new comers gasped and Dean muttered "Bloody hell"

"What's he doin' Harry?" asked Seamus watching the black haired boy peer around the door.

"I…I don't know…He's just sat at his desk…writing" answered Harry distractedly.

"What's he playing at?" asked Parvarti "This has to be some sort of trap"

"Yes we know that" said Hermione "But what is he planning to do"

"I don't know but I'm definitely not being the first to walk in there" announced Lavender.

Many students nodded their agreement at Lavenders words.

After several minutes and many theories and ideas the Slytherin students arrived led by Malfoy who was speaking to the rest.

"I still can't believe my father hasn't gotten this maniac fired yet. Attacking us every lesson, he should be locked up" Malfoy continued to rant until he reached the Gryffindors.

"What are all of you doing out here?" he sneered "Afraid to go in? Scared you might get a boo boo?"

The Slytherins laughed at the obviously unfunny joke, until Malfoy silenced them.

"Move out of the way Potter, I'm not afraid of that joke of a teacher" Malfoy declared as he shoved Harry away from the door and marched through it followed by the rest of the Slytherins.

"Malfoy I really wouldn't…" started Harry but it was too late.

As soon as Malfoy had reached the rows of desks Professor Ignis's form melted away from behind the desk and several red flashes pelted the Slytherins knocking them out cold.

The Gryffindors watched through the door as Jericho cancelled the disillusionment spell upon himself and stepped out of the shadows near the door.

"Very disappointing Mr Malfoy" he said as he revived the Slytherins "Don't always believe what you see"

Malfoy scowled at the Professor as he got to his feet.

"I think I've managed to get you and your friends every lesson haven't I?" Jericho continued towards Malfoy "Perhaps we need to have some extra lessons together, what do you think?"

Malfoy's face went red but he managed to control his temper "No Professor, I can manage"

Jericho smirked a little "If you insist but try to do better at entering the classroom in future"

The Gryffindors all smirked at this along with a few Slytherins, which surprised both Harry and Neville who had been the only ones to notice.

"Right today we will be having a duelling tournament" announced Jericho as if they had all just entered normally and taken their seats.

Many surprised looks were exchanged between the students.

"I have decided to make these an annual thing every few weeks, just to keep you on your toes and to see how much you can remember under pressure" Jericho explained.

Many Gryffindors looked excited at the prospect, while most Slytherins looked annoyed.

"I will call forth a pair of random students to duel in this duelling arena "Jericho flicked his wand behind him and the desks behind him flew to the sides leaving a large space "oh and Har- Mr Potter, you are excused this" added Jericho.

Harry opened his mouth to protest but was beaten to it by an extremely annoyed Malfoy.

"Why does Potter get to sit this out!" he asked enraged.

"Simple, Mr Potter was tutored over the summer and as such I have received word on how well he can perform in a duel and he is ahead of this class" Jericho explained "However if you believe I have underestimated you Mr Malfoy then you can go last and be Mr Potter's opponent, does that sound ok to you both?"

Malfoy sneered and glanced at Harry "Yes Professor" Jericho looked at Harry for confirmation who only nodded a slight smile on his face.

Many of the students looked eager to begin, whether they wished to prove themselves or see Harry and Malfoy face off it wasn't clear.

"OK so the first duel will be between…" Jericho waved his wand and a top hat containing pieces of parchment floated from his desk to hover in front of him, he delved into the hat and withdrew two pieces of parchment "Hermione Granger and Daphne Greengrass"

Heads turned to look at the first two participants, Hermione looked slightly nervous but gave a small grin to Harry when he mouth good luck. Daphne Greengrass moved from the Slytherin crowd and walked into the cleared space without a word and stood resolutely waiting to begin. She was around the same height as Hermione with dark hair that went past her shoulders that was currently held up in a knot and her blue eyes were narrowed in concentration as she watched Hermione approach the duel arena.

"The first to disarm or incapacitate their opponent is the winner, do not use lethal spells" Jericho announced.

The two girls stood facing each other with their wands held ready until Jericho shouted "Begin!"

Immediately Daphne yelled "_Stupefy!_" making Hermione jump out of the way of the unexpected stunner, she tried to gather her thoughts but had to move out of the way of a second stunner that narrowly missed her shoulder. As she ran around Daphne Hermione cast a shield charm and then turned and aimed at Daphne who had yet to move positions "_Stupefy_!"

Daphne quickly cast a shield charm of her own causing the stunner to be deflected but she hurriedly dove out of the way of a body bind hex Hermione had shot at her from the side without her noticing.

Daphne replied by conjuring ropes that shot at Hermione but they soon disappeared when Hermione hit them with a quick _Incendio_. Unperturbed Daphne quickly shot a spell at the floor around Hermione's feet causing it to turn to ice; Hermione began to slip but quickly decided to just drop onto her backside when she saw a stunner heading straight for her and then thinking quickly she cast a blasting hex at Daphne who tried to dodge but was caught slightly on her shoulder and was thus knocked backwards onto the floor.

Hermione meanwhile had vanished the ice and ran forwards to finish the duel when suddenly her feet got caught on something, looking down she saw the floor had become like glue and glued her feet in place and looking back to Daphne's prone form Hermione was once again greeted by a stunner speeding towards her. Hermione cast a shield charm at the last second making the stunner ricochet away from her before she sent her own stunner at Daphne who also blocked it but before she could retaliate she felt something wrap around her ankles, looking down she saw ropes quickly binding her from the feet up and just before her wand was knocked from her hand by one of the seemingly sentient lengths of rope she sent her own binding spell at Hermione who had lowered her guard too soon. She was hit and frozen in place just as the conjured ropes finished binding Daphne.

The rest of the class were silent, none of them being too sure about what had just happened until Jericho began to clap quietly causing most of the class to follow his lead.

"Not bad" said Jericho moving forward to release both girls "there were some inventive strategies there, however Miss Granger don't lower your guard until your one hundred and fifty per cent sure it's safe to do so and Miss Greengrass you might want to move your feet a little more rather than staying in one place"

Hermione nodded her understanding when she was unfrozen and moved back towards Harry who gave her a quick hug and kiss on the cheek. Daphne moved back into the crowd with a neutral expression on her face.

The next few duels were nothing special, people were making similar mistakes to Hermione and Daphne but as the more duels were fought people were catching on and the duels were becoming a lot more interesting, Dean Thomas for instance gained a cheer when he beat Theodore Nott from Slytherin with just one stunner after five minutes of dodging Nott's increasingly frustrated attacks.

Eventually only four people hadn't duelled yet and since Harry and Malfoy were duelling each other no one was surprised when Professor Ignis announced the next two participants without even consulting his top hat.

"Ok Mr Weasley, Mr Longbottom you next" Jericho said.

Neville looked nervously over his shoulder towards Harry and Hermione, the former winked at him with a grin while the latter gave him the thumbs up.

Neville smiled slightly in spite of himself but still felt nervous, especially when he saw the look on Ron's face which seemed to suggest he wasn't happy with anything that ever was or was going to be.

"_OK Neville, you can do this. Show them that you're not useless" _Neville told himself sternly.

"Ready?" Jericho asked.

Neville nodded as did Ron. The whole room seemed to hold their breath waiting for the duel to start, no one had been expecting anything from this duel but there seemed to be a feeling running around the room that something special was going to happen.

"And…BEGIN!" Jericho called, seconds later the first spells were shouted.

"_Stupefy!"_ The two boys shouted in unison, jets of red erupted from their wands and collided in mid-air causing a loud band and bright flash of red that blinded everyone for a few moments.

Neville recovered before Ron and took advantage of his opponent's temporary blindness; he ran to the side and immediately sent another stunner at the wincing red head.

Ron finally regained his sight and looked towards Neville had been finding the spot deserted, he looked around in confusion and saw Neville's stunning spell heading straight at him causing him to back up quickly in panic which in turn caused him to trip over his own large feet and fall to the floor and also inadvertently allowed him to dodge Neville's stunner.

Neville however didn't pause at his opponents own dumb luck and quickly sent another volley of stunners straight at Ron who scrambled out of the way on all fours, before managing to get back on his feet.

"You'll pay for that!" Ron growled before yelling "_Pertrificus Totalus!" _

The spell soared towards Neville who erected a shield to block the spell before he followed up with yet another stunner which Ron managed to dodge.

"You can't win Longbottom" Ron called "Everyone knows that, just give up"

Neville however had expected taunting regardless of who his opponent was and deftly replied to Ron's jab with three quick stunners.

Ron yelled in anger and jumped to the right out of the way of the stunners but hit a wall head on causing his face to go very red when the crowd stated laughing slightly.

"Enough with the stunners Longbottom!" roared Ron in anger "Can't you do anything else you useless lump?"

Neville paused for a split second in the process of casting a spell and looked Ron in the eye with surprising defiance "Yes, I can" he muttered before he yelled _"Inaedifico!" _

Ron tried to cast a shield but the unnerving look Neville had gave him caused him to fumble and the silvery spell hit him square in the chest.

Instantly ice began to form around the point the spell had hit and within seconds had enveloped the boy's entire body encasing him from head to toe in a thick layer of ice.

Neville's victory was met with absolute silence.

No one moved an inch as the all stared in shock at the ice sculpture that was Ron Weasley, then someone started to clap then another person joined in then another until every Gryffindor and even a few Slytherins were applauding Neville and yelling his praises.

People moved forward to congratulate Neville as Jericho moved forward to unfreeze Ron.

"That was awesome Neville"

"Nice bit of duelling"

"You looked so cool!"

"Where did you learn to duel like that?"

People continued to hound Neville for another few minutes, he was quickly losing the confidence he had shown in the duel in the face of all these people and was stuttering slightly as he tried to reply to at least one question; however the large grin on his face gave away his real feelings on the matter.

Finally the chatter quietened down and Jericho could make himself heard.

"Well done, Mr Longbottom. You win; where did you learn that spell incidentally?" Jericho asked with curiosity.

Neville reddened when everyone went quiet and looked at him eagerly but he decided he wouldn't make it easy for them "I read it in a book" he answered.

Jericho's small smile turned into a grin and he nodded whereas a few students were looking disappointed that they'd have to do their own research if they wanted to learn new and amazing spells.

Ron had moved to the back of the crowd and was sat shivering on a desk, his clothes dripping wet and an ugly look on his face.

Finally the cheerful atmosphere was rent by a shout.

"Yes, yes Longbottom can read blah blah. It's my turn to humiliate Potter now is it not?"

Heads turned in the direction of the shout to see Malfoy stood in the duelling arena with his wand out, his arms crossed and a smug look on his face.

Some people turned to Harry to see how he'd take this only to see and amused look on his face. He looked at Jericho who gave him a small wink to which he smirked and walked forward, his hands clasped behind his back, into the arena to face Malfoy.

People were murmuring amongst themselves as the as the two boys stared at each other.

"Any last words Potter?" sneered Malfoy arrogantly as he brandished his wand forward, Harry however just watched him in amusement which clearly irritated Malfoy.

"OK…" began Jericho but before he got out another syllable Malfoy had shouted _"Indolesco!" _causing a grey coloured light to burst from his wand and straight at Harry who had still not moved a muscle.

Many people shouted out warnings and Hermione clapped her hands to her mouth as the spell she recognised to be classified as a borderline 'Dark' spell hurtled towards her boyfriend.

When the spell was almost a foot away from Harry's face he brought his right arm from behind his back and with it his wand, he sliced it upwards in-between him and the spell and with a loud gong like sound the spell ricocheted off of nothingness into the far wall.

Malfoy stood gaping at the display of non-verbal casting which also blocked one of the very strongest curses he knew.

Several students who also recognised the spell looked around to Professor Ignis to see if he was going to stop the duel. Jericho however was stood with his arms folded and a grim look on his face but made no movement to intervene.

Malfoy regained his composure at last and hurled another spell at Harry a ferocious growl. However once again Harry made no attempt to move out of the way and merely stood with his rams by his sides looking at Malfoy.

Again whatever spell Malfoy had used was enough to earn a few shouts of protest from some students however the shouts of anger quickly turned into fear when the spell rocketed towards Harry who had still not moved and passed straight through his forehead.

Several girls screamed as Harry's form disappeared as if it was made from smoke. Malfoy had gone very pale upon seeing this and stared at the spot where Harry had been, thinking he had unintentionally disintegrated the Boy-Who-lived.

A few seconds passed in silence as everyone in the room stared at the spot Harry had been except Jericho who appeared to be watching Malfoy intently but still made no move forwards.

Draco was beginning to panic, he had killed Harry Potter. That in its self wasn't a bad thing in his eyes but the fact that he was surrounded by people in Potters fan club, Dumbledore being the one he was afraid of most although he'd never admit it. Dumbledore would definitely make sure he went to Azkaban and Draco wish to spend no time there what so ever, even if his father could ask the the Dark Lord to break him out.

Just as Malfoy was contemplating running for it a voice spoke into his ear "Boo"

He let out a girlish shriek and promptly fainted at the feet of none other than Harry Potter, who was in the middle of cancelling a disillusionment charm on himself.

Suddenly Hermione broke through the throng of students and launched herself at Harry before even his feet had become visible again.

"Don't ever do that again" she whispered at him fighting back tears.

Harry smiled and hugged her back "Sorry love, I was just having a bit of fun"

Hermione pulled back and fixed Harry with a glare that he could honestly say scared him a little, before she smirked at him.

"It was kind of funny" she said and Harry let out a sigh of relief and chuckled.

After everyone had recovered from Harry's display and Malfoy had been revived and calmed slightly Jericho turned to address the class.

"That was good for the first run, remember any advice that was given to you and try to improve wherever you think you should improve, now class dismissed"

* * *

Authors Note

So yeah, been awhile. I apologise but I've had way too much stuff going off to be healthy.

Anyway I know it's a small chapter but I wanted to set up a little preview into how much Harry has powered up, next chapter there's going to be abit of action so stay tuned.

And to everyone that's been patient with me and took the time to review and fave I give you the biggest hug ever.


	12. Chapter 12

Neville didn't know how to react to the reaction to his duel with Ron Weasley. If he was honest with himself he knew it wasn't the most amazing duel in the world and the only reason he had won was because Ron had underestimated him and gotten angry.

However it seemed that those that had witnessed the duel had been so astounded that he had been anything other than useless they had took it upon themselves to spread the news of Neville's victory to anyone that would listen, and in true Hogwarts style the now official story was that Neville had transfigured Ron into a crumpet before freezing him and then carving rude words into the ice to top it off.

Neville liked being the centre of attention for something other than clumsiness but hated that no one bothered to ask him what had really happened and just believed the made up stories that were circulating around the school, it was after a first year came up to Neville and asked him where he'd learned to conjure a dragon that Neville swore to himself that he would study and train so next time people didn't need to make up stories to impress.

Harry had been looking for his girlfriend for most of the morning, the first place he had gone to look had been quite obviously the library, whoever he was surprised to find that she wasn't there and according to Madam Pince had only been in once that morning but had then left with fifteen different books.

The time was now 1.30pm and Harry was getting a little bit nervous, he was used to Hermione getting a little obsessive with her studies or whatever project she had set her sights on, it was one of the reasons he liked her so much if he was honest, but she had been missing all day and not one person Harry had asked had seen her.

Just as Harry was considering going to Professor McGonagall he suddenly screeched to a halt and yelled out a unintelligible noise scaring a couple of sixth year Ravenclaws.

"I'm such an idiot" Harry muttered to himself as he turned and started sprinting towards Gryffindor tower.

He reached the fat lady, hurriedly gave her the password and shot through the common room and into his dorm before people had even realised the portrait had opened.

He marched over to his trunk and dived into it and began searching, throwing things randomly over his shoulders in the process.

Eventually with a cry of triumph Harry straightened up holding a worn and battered piece of parchment.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good" he quickly muttered and began scanning the map that had just drawn itself upon the parchment.

After a minute or so Harry spotted a dotted moving round in erratic circles on the edge of the forbidden forest, it was labelled Hermione Granger.

Harry quickly wiped the map and stuffed it into his pocket just in case before sprinting out of the dormitory and out of the common room at top speed.

As he sprinting through the castle Harry was trying to understand what Hermione was doing so near the forbidden forest and the odd behaviour of her dot on the map.

Finally Harry came into view of the space of trees the map had said his girlfriend was in. Harry moved into the trees quickly and was met with a most unexpected scene.

Hermione was running around a large clearing firing spells at floating logs with targets on them that were swooping around the clearing as if it were the most natural thing in the world for a log to do.

Harry stood open mouthed for a few moments until his brain kicked in and he worked out what Hermione was doing. Harry carefully reached into his pocket and withdrew his wand trying to move as slowly and discreetly as possible. He quickly took aim and sent a harmless tickling charm at Hermione who was so focused on the floating logs that she had no idea Harry was even there until she was rolling on the floor laughing her head off.

Harry moved forward chuckling a little and lifted the charm.

Hermione sat up with a scowl on her face as she looked at her grinning boyfriend.

"What was that for!" she demanded.

"You were training" Harry stated.

"I know I was! So why did you interrupt me? You broke my rhythm" Hermione ranted.

Harry smiled at her and moved to sit next to her on the floor; he was silent for a few moments before he spoke in a low voice.

"Because I don't want you to get hurt" he said.

Hermione smiled a little but rolled her eyes all the same.

"I wasn't going to get hurt Harry, The logs weren't going to attack me back and I made sure that there wasn't anything for me to trip over before I started" Hermione explained exasperatedly.

Harry chuckled "Do you think a Death eater would let you check for obstacles on the floor before you fought?"

Hermione opened her mouth to answer but then stopped and closed it looking confused and a little embarrassed.

Harry put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into him and gave her a light kiss on the head.

"I don't want you to get hurt, if you train like that then when a real fight comes along you're going to get hurt. You need to be ready for something unexpected to happen, to be ready no matter what the terrain is like" Harry explained "When I had gotten the basics of my transformation down Jericho started to teach me how to fight using my transformation, my wand and my fists and feet. And various combinations of the three" Harry finished smirking slightly.

Hermione was watching her feet and seemed unwilling to look at Harry.

"I'm sorry, I should have realised I was doing it wrong" Hermione quickly said "Now that you've said it, it seems obvious"

Harry smiled "Don't be sorry, it's not your fault that you've never had to think about these things" Harry sighed at this "In fact I'm glad you've never had to, but I'm also glad that you're so willing to help me"

Hermione looked up at Harry quickly "Wait…you're not going to try and stop me?"

Harry frowned "No why would I?"

Hermione squirmed a little but answered confidently "Well you've never really been one to willingly put someone in danger, how many times did you tell me and Ron we could go back before we went down that trap door in first year?" Hermione smiled.

Harry laughed "Yeah, a fair few I imagine. Anyway I still am that person Mione, but I know that I have to do this and I also know that no matter what I say or do you're going to want to help all the way so I need to get you as prepared as I can because if anything happens to you then…well…I…" Harry trailed off looking lost for a moment before Hermione captured his lips in a kiss.

When they had broken apart Hermione smiled at him "That's very wise of you Mr Potter, it'll save me having to hurt you later when you tell me to "stay back" or "hide" or some other rubbish" Hermione smiled playfully at him.

Harry grinned too "I thought so"

"So can you train me?" Hermione asked.

"We begin at once" Harry announced and rolled away from her and brandished his wand while Hermione dove to her feet and did the same.

Elsewhere in the castle Neville was lying on his back on the floor, covered in sweat and panting hard. He had been practicing different spells all morning and had got quite a repertoire under his belt. After the rather unpleasant realisation that no one expected anything at of him after his duel against Ron Weasley Neville had been training whenever he could. He had been studying hard in the library not only for spells to practice but also for spells that would help him practice.

He had found the perfect spell after two days of looking, and after a further full day of practicing it with almost no breaks he had it mastered. The spell was a piece of advanced transfiguration that turned one object (in Neville's case some chairs) into a basic human shaped dummy. The dummy then moved around the room attempting to hit the caster with simple coloured spells that when connected left a coloured smudge on the victim similar to a paintball, they also hit with a variety of force that sometimes Neville felt almost nothing at all and sometimes he was blasted across the room. It also had a shield charm around it that became stronger as time went on; also the dummy became faster and more random as the duel went on.

Currently Neville was giving himself fifteen hits before he was out. His longest time so far was twenty six minutes and he was working his utmost to beat it.

"OK…" Neville panted to himself while checking his watch "Twenty four minutes that time"

Neville slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position and surveyed the disused classroom he was using to practice in. The tables and chairs were scattered everywhere over turned and some broken. There were various scorch marks on the walls and a large crack in the floor where Neville had missed with a bombardment hex. The training dummy was floating idly around the room while Neville wasn't using it.

It didn't matter too much, Neville could repair most of the things easily and the ones he couldn't he could disguise well enough. It wasn't like anyone would come and see the damage anyway and even if they did they wouldn't investigate it. Neville had strategically chosen this classroom as it was in a wing of the castle that was never used except by the odd "castle-wise" student for a shortcut and one of the first things Neville had researched was silencing charms so the chances of him being discovered were slim. Besides he wasn't doing anything wrong really, just taking his studies to the next level, ok maybe the level after that one or the fourth level after that one.

Neville stopped his train of thought before it became too random and looked at his watch.

"OK, an hour till dinner. If I can break the thirty minute mark then I'll add another dummy next time."

He got to his feet and loosened up his body before he cast the activation charm at the dummy and chaos ensued once again.

The next day was Monday and as such Harry Hermione and Neville were currently on their way down into the dungeons for potions.

Snape had been very cool towards Harry since his return to the castle. It was as if he wanted to rile Harry up but at the same time knew he shouldn't. This confused Harry to no end and he had spent the five potions lessons he had had so far trying to ignore Snape as he found this new Potions Professor even more distracting than the old one and Harry really wanted to try hard at all of his lessons from now on. However this was very difficult when Snape was gliding up to him every five minutes and hissing subtle insults and barbs at him.

Harry and Hermione sat at the back of the room as usual and Neville sat with them in the seat that used to house Ron. Said red head glared at Neville every time he took his seat but Neville just ignored him now, he didn't want to be big headed but he knew he could handle Ron easily now.

A minute later Snape strode into the room and to the front of the class.

"Today you will be mixing the Blood replenishing potion. The instructions are on the board, you have one hour Begin"

Various groups of students went to the store cupboard while others began setting up their cauldrons. Half an hour later the class was filled with various smells and different coloured smoke. Snape was striding around making comments on people's potions and more often than not completely disappearing the contents of a cauldron and telling the student to start again.

"Mr Weasley, this is the third time I have told you not to add the toad eyes before taking the cauldron of the fire. This also the third time I will tell you to start again_ Evanesco"_

Ron glared at but Snape wasn't finished "If you haven't got a completed potion by the end of the lesson it will be detention"

Eventually Snape reached the back table where Harry, Hermione and Neville were sitting.

He passed by Neville's cauldron and gave a very ugly look that he couldn't find anything wrong with it. Although Neville was studying his hardest at every subject he would not have gotten such a reaction from Snape if it wasn't for Hermione helping him a couple of times but what Snape didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

He gave a curt nod to Hermione's potion and hurried on to Harry's cauldron. Now Harry too was working his hardest, and although he would admit that potions still wasn't his strong suit this particular potion was very useful both in and after battle and as such Jericho had taught him it along with other useful potions.

Harry kept his head down and carried on preparing his potion when Snape stood in front of his cauldron. Harry kept working and Snape said nothing but stayed standing in front of the cauldron apparently inspecting it intently.

Harry moved to the side of his potion to slice several daisy petals when he heard a soft _plop _and he glanced to the right to see Snape walking swiftly away and a few quickly dying ripples in his potion. He soon added two and two together and grabbed both Hermione and Neville and pulled them under the desk.

Not a second later Harry's cauldron exploded with a BANG and his half-finished potion was sent flying everywhere. It hit the walls and floor and several students too who quickly tried to brush it off themselves in a panic.

"Settle down, settle down" Snape called "If you have been splashed there should not be any side effects from this particular potion as it needs to be drunk to take effect"

Snape then looked towards the back of the room where Harry Hermione and Neville were emerging from under the desk. Neville was thanking Harry for pulling him down while Hermione was asking what had gone wrong. Harry however was staring furiously at Snape who was looking back smugly.

Then it happened, for the first time since Harry had returned to the castle he looked directly into Snape's eyes. Harry felt a push on the front of his head and then quite suddenly he heard a furious roar within his head and Snape's eyes widened in shock, he took a step backwards and fell over.

A few people laughed but quickly stopped when Snape got back to his feet. He was staring at Harry with a mixture of confusion and fear. This shocked Harry, he didn't have a clue what had just happened and he decided to ask Jericho about it as soon as possible.

At that moment Snape called across the room "Class dismissed, now"

A Slytherin spoke up looking confused "But sir, we've still got 25 minutes left…"

Snape rounded on the nervous looking Slytherin "I don't care Nott, I am the teacher here and I say Class dismissed. Now get OUT!"

Students jumped up to obey and hurried out of the class as quickly as possible.

Harry was one of the last to leave and he gave Snape one last curious glance before he left.

Throughout the rest of the week classes were pretty normal for a school where magic was taught. Every evening after completing their day's homework and having a short rest Harry and Hermione would go find a disused classroom in order to train. They had decided that the forbidden forest was a bit too dangerous in the evenings but with Harry and Hermione's combined knowledge of security charms it was unlikely they would be caught unawares.

This was also the same ritual that Neville followed every night too; he would go to the same classroom as always making sure not to be followed and then begin training against the transfigured dummies. He was now facing three at once, having added an extra one every time he lasted half an hour straight.

At the moment Neville had been sparing for 40 minutes and he was getting very tired but he refused to end the session until the dummies were incapacitated or he was.

_I need to think of something to finish them off_ thought Neville; _I can't keep going much longer_

As Neville dodged a charged up knockback jinx from one of the dummies he decided on a plan.

_I haven't tried this spell yet but from what the book said it should be perfect for this situation, I just need to line then up right…_

He dove to the side of one dummy causing the other two to turn towards him and effectively lineing them all up behind each other.

Neville smirked "Perfect, now… _Horreo Acies!" _

Neville roared the incantation and performed the swiping motion the spell book had described targeting the first dummy; he knew the spell would take care of the other two as well then all he would have to do was bind them and he could have a rest.

Neville felt the air around him rush forward again like the book had described however that was where the books description went out of the window. Neville watched in morbid fascination as the dummies instead of being hit forcefully in the gut with condensed air were instead sliced clean in half, the air carried on after the first as it should have but again the dummies were sliced in half as if a huge sword had been taken to them. Worse still the blade of air kept going and impacted against one of the classroom walls leaving a huge horizontal gash in the wall that was deep enough for Neville to put his entire arm in.

Neville fell backwards onto the floor in shock, the spell was only supposed to hit the target in the gut with condensed air which then gave the caster time to finish off their target. Sure it was going to hurt being hit with it but this was ridiculous, it had almost taken down the wall! In fact Neville suspected that Hogwarts latent magic was the only reason the whole wall hadn't been destroyed.

Neville looked over at the dummies, the were cut perfectly in half at the midriff. Even though they were made of wood the sight made Neville feel slightly ill.

"I think I've had enough for today" Neville muttered to himself as he did his best to clean up the classroom, but he had no idea how to repair the gaping maw in the wall.

Coincidentally, in the room directly above the one Neville was currently trying to clean up Harry and Hermione were stood listening for a sign of what the huge boom they had just heard was.

"I can't hear anything else unusual" said Hermione quietly.

"Me neither, even with my dragon hearing" replied Harry "It sounded like it came from below us, plus the floor definitely shook"

"Maybe it was peeves or a student messing around" Hermione suggested "It sounded like a sonic boom"

Harry nodded and walked to the door and out into the corridor where he looked right and left.

"I think maybe we should head back to the common room" he said "just in case, it could have been nothing but then again it could have been something and I don't feel like getting the blame"

Hermione looked at Harry in a funny way before she nodded and followed him out of the classroom.

Harry watched her a second before adding "We don't have to go the most direct way to the common room though. If we just happened to stumble across whatever made that sound…"

Hermione smiled "There's the Harry I remember, I'm glad there's some sense in you now though"

Harry winked before he grabbed her hand and they hurried off towards the stairs. They finally arrived in the parallel corridor below the one they had been in seconds after Neville had left it at the other end. They checked each room until they came to one that made Harry say "Bloody hell…"

That weekend was a Hogsmeade weekend; this caused Harry a little bit of panic.

He had known that the Hogsmeade weekend was coming; however he had failed to take into account that he now had a girlfriend, he had rushed around trying to find out what would make a perfect first date.

However Hermione was the one to provide the solution, as was usually the case in Harry's life.

Harry was trying to get some last minute tips on what girls found romantic from Lavender and Parvarti, this proved to be a mistake as the two girls could do nothing but giggle as Harry pleaded for information. This was where Hermione stepped in after coming down from the girl's dormitory's to meet Harry.

"Harry, as funny as I found that" here she had to pause to stifle a giggle at the expression on Harry's face "You don't need to do anything special for me, as long as I can spend the day with you then it'll be special"

"But don't I need to…well…I…" Harry was cut off at that moment by a kiss on the lips

"No, you don't. Let's just enjoy ourselves together ok?" Hermione said with a smirk.

Harry visible relaxed and nodded.

As the two exited through the portrait hole and headed for the front doors Hermione spoke up.

"You know for a super dragon man, you looked pretty worried back there" Hermione giggled.

Harry smiled a little "Letting you down scares me"

Hermione said nothing but couldn't help but smile at the warm feeling that spread through her at Harry's words.

They made their way down into the entrance hall and joined the queue for Filch to tick their names off before they left for the village. Neville was waiting a bit ahead of them and was talking to a girl with dirty blonde hair and pale silvery eyes. Neville looked up and saw Harry and Hermione and nodded and smiled to which they both waved and nodded.

Eventually they got past Filch and then strolled leisurely down through the grounds and into Hogsmeade. The first thing they did was to go to Honeydukes and buy and ice cream each as it was a warm day. They strolled around the shops for a while tasting each other's ice creams every now and then. They had a good laugh inside Zonkos when Fred and George were ironically attacked by a pair of nose biting teacups.  
Eventually they decided to go for a drink in the Three Broomsticks. Hermione ordered a gilly water and Harry ordered a Butterbeer despite the warm weather because he had missed it in all the time he'd been away.

They turned to find a table and saw Neville and the blonde girl sitting at a corner table. The two moved towards them.

"Hey Nev, can we join you?" asked Harry when they reached the table.

Neville looked up and grinned "Sure, take a seat"

Harry and Hermione thanked him and sat next to each other.

"Harry, Hermione this is Luna" said Neville "Luna this is-"

"Harry Potter and Hermione Granger" said Luna abruptly.

"Uh yeah" faltered Neville.

"I'm glad you both saw off the nargles, I'm surprised it took you so long to notice them. Especially with your purple eyes" Luna stated while staring at Harry.

Harry's eyes widened mirroring Luna's own. "What do you mean purple eyes?" he asked suspiciously.

"Oh you don't want people to see them, that's a shame their very nice" Luna commented before taking a sip of her bright pink drink.

"Err, yeah. Anyway, Luna's dad runs the _Quibbler, _we were just talking about their latest article" said Neville

"Yes, daddy wrote about the supposed werewolf attack in a muggle city. He thinks it was more likely a Blithering Humdinger, they get confused sometimes and mistake other things for their mates you see" Luna explained.

Hermione was staring at Luna was an odd expression halfway between amusement and confusion. Harry also was trying not to smile, he knew very well that the creature was in fact a werewolf but he couldn't say so, besides Luna seemed so confident he couldn't bring himself to prove her wrong anyway.

It also put his mind at ease, it seemed that Luna somehow knew about it his dragon eyes maybe more, however she didn't seemed like she would tell anyone and even if she did would anyone believe her?

For another half an hour the four students talked and joked about random things, Luna turned out to be a very entertaining individual whether she realised it or not.

Currently Harry and Neville were exchanging amused glances over the conversation Hermione and Luna were having.

"There has never been any recorded sighting of a Crumpled Horned Snorkack! How can you believe it exists?" Hermione asked frustrated.

Luna just smiled at Hermione patiently "You're a muggle born right?" Luna asked lightly.

"Y-yes, but what has that got to do with anything?" Hermione asked obviously confused by the abrupt change in topic.

"Did you believe in magic before you got your Hogwarts letter?" Luna asked.

Hermione opened her mouth to reply but stopped and closed it again with a thoughtful look on her face before she nodded curtly at Luna and withdrew into her own thoughts, Luna just smiled benignly.

Harry hugged Hermione and gave a light kiss on the head while trying not to laugh. Neville was chuckling slightly but hid it by taking a sip of his drink. Luna had started drumming on the table with two olives on toothpicks.

"Right, I think we should be heading back" said Harry as he got to his feet checking his watch.

"Yeah, ok" agreed Neville before draining his drink and rising too.

The two girls collected their bags and got to their feet too. Hermione was just reaching for Harry's hand when – BOOM!

The entire bar shook and many bottles and glasses fell and smashed. Many patrons began to scream and head for the exits. The ones that went out of the main door however suddenly screamed even louder and then were silenced by something.

Harry instantly pulled out his wand as did Neville seconds later. Hermione was third to arm herself and Luna also withdrew her wand when she noticed everyone else had too.

Harry moved over to one of the windows and peered out to try and discern what was going on, however this proved difficult due to the frosted glass but soon he was left with no doubts about what was going on as a figure moved close to the glass, a figure wearing a dark cloak and a ghoulish mask.

Harry quickly dove out of the way as the figure pointed their wand at the window and blasted it and the wall sending bits of wood and glass flying into the bar.

Harry erected a shield to stop the worst of the shrapnel but was quickly forced to dive out of the way yet again as the Death Eater that had blasted the wall fired a familiar green curse at him.

The curse impacted against a wall a blasted a small hole in the stone. Harry was getting to his feet to retaliate but was beaten to it be Neville who sent a table flying towards the death eater who was caught unawares and was sent flying into the street where the table smashed on top of him.

Harry nodded briefly to Neville in thanks before they both rushed out into the street with Hermione and Luna right behind them.

The main high street of Hogsmeade was complete chaos. There was a fairly large crater a little up the road from where Harry was stood which presumably was the source of the boom earlier. Villagers and students were running this way and that, some crying, some shouting, and some crying while shouting. Dark figures were also moving all over the street sending spells and hexes at anything and everyone within range. Several fires had broken out and many windows, doors and walls were blasted apart.

Harry was just trying to put a plan of attack to together when a small figure caught his eye. A little girl of around four or five was running as fast as she could down the street crying her eyes out and screaming for her mother.

Just as Harry was about to run to her a death eater saw the girl and sent a spell straight towards her with a scream of mirth.

Harry saw red.

He exploded off the ground as his dragon wings burst from his back and beat the ground once before shrinking back into his body and not even a second later he landed in front of the crying girl and blocked the speeding spell with a powerful shield.

Harry looked over his shoulder at the stunned girl, his eyes sparkling purple, and smiled at her.

"Don't worry, I'll stop them ok" he told the girl who nodded slowly as she stared at the dazzling purple eyes.

A shout of laughter broke the moment and Harry whipped around to see the girls would be attacker standing a few feet away laughing and readying another spell.

"Close your eyes" Harry told the girl softly.

With no hesitation Harry thrust his wand forward as if he was wielding a sword and a second later the death eater's chest had a large perfectly circular hole that went through his entire chest and out of his back.

Harry gave the surprised looking death eater one last look of revulsion before he turned away from the man who fell backwards dead.

Harry knelt down in front of the girl.

"It's ok, you're ok now" he said soothingly, the girl looked up and stared at him for a moment before she dissolved into tears once again and threw herself at him. Harry held her lightly and tried to comfort her while Hermione, Neville and Luna ran up to them both.

"Harry, how did you…" Neville began but was cut off by Harry.

"It doesn't matter at the minute. We need to take…" Harry began but then looked down at the still crying girl.

"What's your name?" he asked

"Anna" the girl sniffled.

Harry smiled "Hello Anna, I'm Harry"

"Hello" Anna said quietly.

Harry smiled again and turned back to his friends and girlfriend "We need to get Anna to somewhere safe, me and Neville will go and help the village. Hermione you and Luna take Anna and anyone else you find to Hogwarts"

Hermione was about to protest but Luna beat her to it.

"I think Hermione should go with you two, she's a better duellist than me and you need all the help you can get. Come on Anna" Luna said and took Anna's hand and began jogging away with her "Have you ever been to Hogwarts before?" they heard her ask before they were two far away to hear.

A scream rent the air and the three teenagers jumped into action and headed off into the heat of the battle.

They headed down the high street to where at least fifteen death eaters were gathered sending various destructive curses at nearby buildings and people. Hermione took point and waved her wand above head and shouted _"Silex Caput!"_

Several large boulders appeared floating above the crowd of death eaters and before they had even noticed the Hermione directed her wand down and the rocks dropped from the sky directly onto the masked attackers.

Harry and Neville never broke step as they raced past Hermione and the pile of boulders and people to continue the counter attack.

By now teachers from the school had come down to help against the death eaters. Harry and Neville passed professor McGonagall who was duelling against two death eaters at once.

As the two boys ran past she yelled at them "What do you two think you are doing!" she blocked an oncoming spell and quickly followed up with transfiguring chains that lunged at the two death eaters who couldn't stop them with any spell they tried and had to resort to wrestling with them.

"Mr Potter, Mr Longbottom!" McGonagall shouted "Get back up to the castle this-"

Professor McGonagall was left speechless in mid rant at this point as Harry and Neville ignored her completely and simultaneously sent blasting hexes at a group of six death eaters that were giving Professor Flitwick trouble.

The death eaters were sent flying in all directions as the two boys spells collided with the ground they were standing on making a large crater to add to the one made by the death eaters.

Some death eaters were killed as they landed on their heads, others were just knocked unconscious or quickly stunned by someone as they landed.

Professor Flitwick turned to see his saviour and his eyes widened in surprise when he saw the two dark haired boys.

Harry ran off in one direction and Neville the other and engaged yet more death eaters.

Professor Flitwick briefly looked over at Professor McGonagall who nodded quickly and moved back into the fray. The two boys would do more good helping to fight than sitting in Hogwarts.

Eventually the death eater's ranks began to thin, thanks largely to the fact that the death eaters seemed to like standing together rather than acting alone. This made them ideal targets.

"_Incendio!" _ Yelled Harry and as the fire burst from his wand he took a deep breath added his own brand of dragon fire to the blaze. Several death eaters were caught in the flames but one surrounded themself with a shield of water.

When the fire had dissipated one figure was left stood amidst several burnt and blackened death eaters. The figure was still wearing their death eater mask and seemed to have their head wrapped in black bandages underneath it, they were also was wearing a long sweeping cloak and elbow length gloves.

"You need to stop playing with fire Potter" the figure said in a high angry voice.

Harry recognised the voice immediately "Hello Bellatrix, I must say I love your new look"

"Silence!" Bellatrix hissed "It's because of you that I must dress like this, you burnt me and now I'm going to pay you back tenfold before I take you back to my master"

Harry's eyes narrowed "You want to capture me?"

Bellatrix laughed "Of course Potter, why do you think we are here in the first place?"

"All this just to capture me!" Harry snarled his dragon fangs emerging.

Bellatrix just cackled again before suddenly screaming _"Crucio!"_

Harry ducked the torture curse and countered with a bone breaking curse which Bellatrix blocked.

"My, my Potter. That was a little bit dark for you wasn't it?" sneered Bellatrix.

"Anything to get the job done Bella" smirked Harry _"Hastile!"_

Several nearby pieces of debris were transfigured into medieval spears and then shot at Bellatrix, who tried to out run them but flicked her wand behind her to conjure a brick wall to stop the progress of the spears.

As Harry and Bellatrix's duel got underway, elsewhere Neville was trying to get several first year students safely out of a nearby shop.

"Come on quickly now" Neville called as the first years hurried out of the shop and up the road towards Hogwarts with Neville darting around them constantly on the alert.

Suddenly a spell was sent whizzing towards Neville who noticed it at the last second and managed to dodge it by inches as it went sailing past the bridge of his nose.

Neville whipped around and saw the offending death eater and instantly erected a shield as another curse was sent at him. Luckily he managed to block it but his shield was destroyed too.

"RUN!" Neville yelled at the first years who immediately started sprinting towards the school gates. Neville started trading blows with the death eater but was distracted by a scream from behind him. He erected a shield and glanced behind him to see the group of first years had been impeded by another death eater.

The death eater raised his wand to attack but Neville was distracted by the first death eater and was prevented from defending the first years as the death eater threw spell after spell at him so he could do nothing but block and dodge.

At the last second when Neville was sure he had let the young students down a voice yelled _"Impedimenta!"_

The second death eater was blasted away from the first years and landed in a crumpled heap a few feet away. Before he could get back onto his feet someone stepped forward and stunned him.

Neville took this as his cue to attack and turned his full attention back to the flurry of spells that were hitting his shield.

Neville soon realised that the spells he was blocking instinctively weren't only coming from the death eater he could see in front of him.

He finally realised what was happening when he saw something shimmer against a wall, there were disillusioned death eaters attacking him too! Neville counted at least four partially invisible death eaters in addition to the visible one.

He started to feel the beginnings of panic set in but then his training sessions came back to him and he realised this was exactly how he had been training.

Neville hesitated for just a split second at the thought of deliberately killing someone but knew he would have to do it, now or never as he wasn't certain the first years were completely safe yet.

"_Horreo Acies!" _Neville roared and slashed his wand in the direction of the death eaters and pushed as much power as he could into the spell.

Unlike the time he was training and a single blade of air was sent forth, this time three blades shot from his wand at different moments as he brought it slashing down. The blades ripped up the earth as the screamed towards the death eaters who all began to run in terror but they couldn't out run the air itself.

Neville looked away as the condensed air made contact with flesh, the death eaters screamed but were quickly silenced.

Neville glanced once at the scene before he turned to see the first years hurrying up the road and were almost at the Hogwarts gates where Professor Vector and Professor Sprout were herding students through. Realising they were safe Neville looked to see who their saviour was and was very surprised indeed to see Daphne Greengrass watching him in amazement.

Hermione was currently surrounded by death eaters; however they weren't really any threat towards her.  
They were all struggling fruitlessly against the thick layer of earth that had encased each of them from their feet up to their neck.

The death eaters had surrounded Hermione as she had fought one of them. They had formed a circle around her and stood spaced evenly apart exactly where they now were trapped. The death eaters had surrounded her and then proceeded to gloat which Hermione instantly took advantage of.

"_Terram Capulus" _Hermione had said confidently then pointed her wand at the ground at her feet.

After a few moments nothing happened and the death eaters began to laugh however Hermione didn't move and inch and waited. The death eaters still laughing and chuckling failed to notice the earth around their feet begin to rise up and surround them and quickly move up their bodies. Most of them noticed when the earth reached their waist but they had no time to react before they were buried up to the neck.

Hermione cast silencing spells at all the captured death eaters and hurried away without a backwards glance.

Professor McGonagall was hurrying along the streets of Hogsmeade. It seemed like most death eaters had been incapacitated in some way or another, some more gruesome than the others. She had passed a group of death eaters all sliced cleanly in half, some multiple times.

She was just about to signal to everyone in the village to meet near the Three Broomsticks to get a report of what had happened and what was still to be done when she heard the sound of spell fire and the flashes and bangs of a duel in the next street along.

She jogged down an alley way and emerged into the next street to see Harry Potter duelling fiercely with a death eater, they appeared to be female judging by their figure and she was completely shrouded in black except for the silver mask upon her face.

She was about to step in and help when the death eater sent a spiralling blood boiling curse at Harry who countered it by sending a spell she didn't recognise that ground up the earth in a line to collide with the blood boiling curse.

McGonagall stopped open mouthed. The blood boiling curse was a very dark spell which required a lot of power, to block it was difficult but to stop it with another curse was almost impossible. She stood in awe as the two combatants traded blows of increasing ferocity.

She became even more gobsmacked when the death eater caused a massive spike of earth to erupt out of the ground beneath Harry's feet. But before he was skewered Harry back flipped out of harm's way, however the thing that made Professor McGonagall's jaw drop was when after Harry landed back on his feet he raised his leg and kicked the spike causing it to crack at the base and fall forward pointing at the death eater. He then raised his wand and banished it straight at his opponent like a rocket.

McGonagall thought that Harry must have won when she saw the death eater trip and fall backwards in their haste to move out of the way. However the death eater yelled something she couldn't catch and seconds later a man wearing a dark muggle suit and apparated above the female death eater and dropped down and with his arm raised and punched the rocketing spike moments before it hit the death eater and shatter it into pieces.

Professor McGonagall had seen many things in her life but this was by far one of the strangest and most shocking. She thought that the surprises were over but suddenly fire erupted near to where Harry was stood and seconds later a man she recognised as Professor Jericho Ignis was stood where the fire had been.

"Alright Harry?" Jericho asked conversationally.

"Yup, how about you?" Harry replied in the same manner.

"Yeah not bad"

The man in the suit brushed himself off then turned to Harry and Jericho.

"So you followed me here Jericho. Can't you take the hint when I punch you in the face?" the man smirked.

"Let's not start the banter again Vincent" Jericho replied with an ugly look "Let's get this over with already.

Vincent grinned and without waiting another second dart forward and lunged at Jericho to which Jericho responded with a flaming kick to the stomach.

Vincent took the blow in full but shrugged it off and grabbed Jericho's leg and pulled. Jericho fell forward but was quickly knocked back by a punch in the face from Vincent, but he pulled back his own fist and ignited it before slamming it into the side of Vincent's head.

Bellatrix, taking advantage of Vincent and Jericho's arrival sent a blasting hex towards Harry but Harry copied her and sent his own blasting hex. The two spells met in the middle and collided yet again causing a loud gonging noise to echo across the village.

As the two fights went on Professor McGonagall was trying to decide who needed her help more but was distracted from that when she saw Hermione Granger arrive on the other side of the street.

Harry noticed his girlfriend arrive as well "Hermione stay back!" he yelled as he dodged a torture curse and sent a piercing hex back along with a blast of dragon fire.

Bellatrix subtly changed targets and sent her next curse at Hermione who was too slow to react and was hit with the torture curse and fell to the ground screaming.

Harry turned to see Hermione in immense pain and instantly turned back to stop Bellatrix.

"LEAVE HER ALONE!" he yelled as he raised his wand.

However Vincent broke away from Jericho and withdrew his wand from inside his suit. But instead of aiming it at Jericho he whipped around and sent a bludgeoning curse at Harry who was oblivious to Vincent's attack and was knocked off his feet. Bellatrix shrieked with laughter and lifted the curse from Hermione and instead screamed _"Crucio!" _again and aimed at Harry who was still disoriented from the surprise attack.

Harry screamed in pain as the spell hit him and thrashed on the ground. Vincent apparated next to him and kicked him in the head knocking him unconscious.

"Let's go" Vincent said to Bellatrix and before anyone could reach him he dissapparated away along with Harry's unconscious form. Bellatrix gave one last scream of laughter and did the same.

Jericho reached the spot Harry and Vincent had been not even a second after he had dissapparated.

"Damn it!" he roared as he fell to his knees "Damn it, damn it, damn it!" he continued and punched the ground with each curse.

The sky began to grow dark as Hermione crawled slowly towards the spot Harry had laid.

"No…" she whispered "No…"

Dark clouds gathered in the sky, and spots of rain hit the ground.

"No…Harry…"

Hermione continued to crawl forward as a clap of thunder rumbled in the clouds. The rain got heavier.

"No…you can't…be…"

Hermione reached where Harry had lain moments before just as the heavens opened and the rain came down in full force. Thunder sounded once again and a few flashes of lightning ripped across the sky.

Hermione looked down where the Harry had been and saw a few drops of blood staining the earth and her eyes widened.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" She screamed throwing her head back.

Hermione continued to scream at the sky as a bolt of lightning erupted from the clouds and streaked down towards the earth where she kneeled screaming. The lightning struck her dead on and with a crack and a clap of thunder Hermione Granger was gone.

Authors Note

Bit of a cliffy here. I hate them as much as you but they're so useful.

Anyway the usual thanks to all you lovely readers. And the usual plea for reviews, they really do spur me on to write more.

I apologise for the delay with this chapter but I've started University and I'm living away from home for the first time so give me a break.

David M. Potter – Umbridge hasn't been forgotten don't worry.

Jarno – I'm glad you noticed these things actually. The duels were done like they were for a reason. I hope this chapter explains enough for you but there will be other things revealed that will explain further.

CelticReaper - they might be, they might not be. Look for clues they are they are there. But I'm not saying who for.


	13. Chapter 13

"Why the hell weren't you there to help Albus!" Sirius yelled pointing a furious finger towards the headmaster.

Dumbledore leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes and gave a weary sigh "I truly am sorry Sirius; I was at the ministry at the time going over things for Dolores Umbridges trial. By the time I had heard of the attack it was too late"

Sirius gave out a frustrated growl and turned away from the headmaster, it was then that his eyes found Jericho who was leaning against a wall with his arms folded and staring out of the window.

"You!" shouted Sirius "Why didn't you help Harry huh!"

Jericho turned slowly to face Sirius and said in a levelled voice "I tried"

Sirius's face grew red as he burst out "That's not good enough! My Godson is out there somewhere probably being tortured and all you can say is you tried!" Sirius paused for a second to draw breath before continuing "Use that fire apparate thing and go get him!"

Jericho shook his head sadly "I don't know where they went, I can't flame to a place I don't know"

Sirius slammed his hand on the desk in frustration but Dumbledore looked up towards his current Defence against the dark arts teacher.

"Didn't you say you followed Bellatrix Lestrange to their hideout in the summer?" Albus asked Jericho.

"Yes, I did. However I have already checked that place and it appears abandoned. I travelled there to scout the place but I found no one. It seems they are either aware I paid them a visit or are just that cautious"

Dumbledore nodded "I did suspect such a thing. Tom never stayed in one place for too long, it's the reason he has so many hideaways and sanctuaries"

Jericho nodded and Sirius let out a grunt but no one spoke for several minutes.

Finally Sirius spoke up "So what are we going to do?"

The headmaster was about to speak but Jericho cut him off.

"We wait and train Neville Longbottom" he stated.

Both Sirius and Dumbledore stared at Jericho for a full minute before Sirius found his voice.

"What?" he asked in obvious confusion.

Jericho stepped away from the window and looked between the two men.

"There is no way we can find out where they took Harry at the moment, I suspect your spy is trying to find that out Albus" Jericho said looking at the headmaster who nodded "so until he comes up with something or some other information is uncovered there is nothing we can do on that front. Also the disappearance of Hermione Granger is also a factor in this "

Sirius cringed at the mention of Hermione, he was very fond of her and knew she meant the world to Harry and how she…went was very hard to think about.

"It was strange and very unfortunate from what Minerva told me but I fail to see how it relates to Harry's kidnap" Dumbledore said with question.

Jericho shook his head "Hermione is alive, she is where Harry is I'm sure of it"

"But how?" asked the headmaster "Minerva swore she saw Miss Granger struck by lightning and well…"

"I know but she wasn't vaporised like you think. As an Awakened Animagus I have the ability to sense the same power in other people. It is similar to how animals can detect the scent of another animal, be it prey or predator."

"So you can sense my Animagus form?" asked Sirius.

"Yes but only slightly, because you haven't become Awakened your power seems like just a pup" Jericho explained.

Sirius frowned perhaps in thought or perhaps in disappointment.

"I can sense Harry's form from quite a large distance because it is so powerful, however up until yesterday I couldn't sense anything from Hermione but I believe that when she saw the boy she loved taken away from her, her powers were brought forth by the need to chase after her boyfriend's captors anyway possible"

"The lightning was her power?" asked Dumbledore.

"Yes I think so; I only sensed her powers the moment the lightning struck. I don't know what sort of animal she is but I think that the lightning was a form of teleportation, like the way a Phoenix can travel by 'flaming' to a location"

The three men were silent for a few minutes until Sirius suddenly spoke up.

"So what's this got to do with Neville Longbottom?"

"Neville is also an Awakened Animagus" Jericho said flatly.

Dumbledore's eyebrows rose and Sirius said "wow"

"I don't think he knows however, I wasn't sure if I should inform him however due to the law" Jericho paused and let out a breath "But it seems my decision has been made for me, I don't think Neville will sit back and do nothing while his friends are in danger and he will need every advantage"

Sirius grinned "Harry's bad influence"

Jericho smiled a little and Dumbledore chuckled.

Elsewhere in the British Isles Harry Potter was brought to consciousness by a sharp pain in both his arms. He blearily lifted his head off his chest and tried to take in his surroundings however this proved difficult as wherever he was, was almost pitch black. The only light was coming from an almost burnt out candle that was resting on a stone floor in front of Harry who was sprawled out on the floor against a wall.

Realising that his head was throbbing Harry tried to put his hand to his forehead but this also proved difficult as there was a thick chain wrapped around both Harry's wrists and attached to the floor.

Harry frowned in confusion trying to remember how he had gotten into this situation before his brain started working again and the grim details of the attack on Hogsmeade came back to him.

He sat for a few moments lost in unpleasant thoughts until he decided that wherever he was he didn't want to be. The first thing he tried was to use his dragon strength to break the chains but they remained intact, most likely due to a spell.

After a few more minutes of thought Harry decided to try to melt the chains, he angled his head towards his right hand and grew his scales to protect himself before taking a deep breath and letting loose a torrent of flame at the thick chain. He held the flame for a as long as he could and as hot as he could get it but it seemed that he was feeling weaker than he thought because he felt dizzy after just a minute and had to stop.

He took a few breaths to try and stop his head spinning and then glanced at the chains. They were a little black but looked no less strong.

Harry sighed and leaned back against the wall. He really hoped Hermione was ok.

In actual fact Hermione wasn't ok, she wasn't hurt save for a few bumps and bruises from the attack on Hogsmeade but she definitely wasn't ok.

The reason for this was because Hermione didn't like heights, and waking up on the roof of a very high tower with no recollection of how she had got there had her feeling very scared and confused.

It had taken her nearly fifteen minutes after first seeing where she was to get up off the floor and stop clinging to a flag pole.

"Come on Hermione, just move" she kept muttering to herself "You need to find Harry; somehow you've followed him here and now for once you need to rescue him! And stop talking to yourself!"

She shakily got to her feet and tentatively looked over the edge of the roof; she quickly grabbed hold of the flag pole again.

"Ok there's a window just below here, all I need to do is lower myself down into it…above the twenty foot drop" Hermione grimaced but her logical mind told her to hurry for Harry's sake and her own, she was after all stood on a roof of the enemies base of operations in full view.

Slowly she moved towards the edge and sat down, her legs hanging off the edge. After uttering a silent prayer Hermione started to lower herself down to the windows ledge. After several tense minutes she finally got a good foot hold on the ledge.

It was at this moment that Hermione realised that the window was locked.

"Typical" she muttered as she realised she would have to let go of the wall to retrieve her wand.

She had just got a good hold on her wand when it happened.

There was a loud crack and she felt her stomach go funny as she dropped straight down as the window ledge broke beneath her feet.

She let out a small "oh!" of surprise as she rushed past the window and towards the ground that looked so very far away.

Hermione was about to let out a scream but she suddenly heard a voice.

"_I've got you"_

She felt her body twist and begin to shape into something new but before she could even begin to understand what was happening her legs, which felt so much more powerful, kicked out at the wall as it rushed past causing her to be propelled forward and her body bent itself into a flip after which she landed gracefully on all fours on an opposite tower balcony.

Hermione expected it to hurt, landing on all fours like she had but it didn't. It felt comfortable and right.

She looked down at her herself and almost collapsed from shock.

Harry had been trying to think of a way to escape for over half an hour now. The only things he could think of weren't working or he didn't have enough strength left in him to go through with them.

It was at this point where he realised there was nothing he could do in his current predicament. He would either have to wait for someone to rescue him or see if he was moved by his captors and then try to escape then.

He was just pondering how he could pull that off when he heard footsteps heading towards his cell. Bracing himself for whatever was about to happen Harry stared at where he thought the door was in his dark little cell. Moments later a gold strip appeared opposite him on the floor as a lamp was lit outside the cell.

He heard a spell being muttered as well as a key being turned and the door was flung open. Harry blinked in the sudden light and looked to see two people he didn't know in death eater robes step into the cell and began to detach his chains from the wall.

He noticed they were both fairly young, perhaps a few years older than him and seemed to be very nervous about what they were doing.

Finally they hauled him to his feet and roughly dragged him out of the cell and down a long dark corridor lit by only a few lamps.

They arrived at some stone steps leading upwards and Harry was again dragged up them at a pace too fast for his weary legs to keep up with. He contemplated trying ot escape but knew his body just didn't have the energy.

After a few minutes of stumbling and muttered threats Harry and his 'escorts' arrived into a large hallway with large double doors at either end, the two death eaters led him to the doors on the left which were opened by a muttered spell from the death eater on Harry's right.

The doors swung inwards to reveal a large courtyard with many other death eaters gather around a raised stone platform on which Voldemort himself was stood grinning at Harry's defeated looking form.

Hermione was hurrying around the ramparts of the fortress she had found herself in. It had taken her a few moments for her to get moving at all after discovering she now had four legs rather than two. She had been trying to make sense of it all when she heard a voice.

"_Don't worry; it's going to be alright"_

Hermione stopped dead and looked around but saw no one. She tried to speak but only a small 'yip' escaped her mouth.

She heard a small chuckle and then the voice said again _"Speak with your mind"_

Deciding that weirder things had happened to her so far today Hermione did as she was told.

"Who are you?" she thought.

"_I am you" _said the voice.

Hermione rolled her eyes "How can you be me? I'm me" she glanced down at her body "…I think, where are you?"

The voice chuckled _again "I am inside your mind; I am the part of you that gives you the power to be what you are"_

Hermione was silent for a moment thinking hard, which perhaps meant she wasn't silent given how she was communicating with this strange voice, finally she asked the most important question she could think of.

"And what am I then?"

Harry was led up onto the stone platform and dropped onto his knees in front of Voldemort who just inclined his head in greeting. The two death eaters that had brought him form the cell then attached the chains around his wrists to the floor with a spell and quickly retreated away from their master.

Harry slowly raised his head and looked up at the white snake like face that stared down at him with an insane glint in his red eyes.

"Well well, it is good to see you Harry Potter" Voldemort whispered before throwing his head back laughing.

The death eaters laughed too but quickly stopped when their master did.

"After all these years you are finally at death's door. You lived on borrowed time for fifteen years but no more and the legend of the Boy-Who-Lived will come to an end and the reign of Lord Voldemort will truly begin!"

Voldemort took a breath and then turned towards his assembled followers "Some of you know that last year Harry here escaped from me yet again. But I have once again captured him-"

Someone stood at the back of the platform that Harry couldn't see gave a snort of laughter at these words.

Voldemort turned around angrily but narrowed his eyes at the person when he saw them and slowly turned back to the death eaters.

"Tonight I will show you all that I am all powerful and that this boy stands no chance against me and that without his parents to die for him he is nothing"

Anger rose in Harry at these words and he started speaking before he even knew what he was doing "I'm getting tired of the monologue Tom, is your ego really this big?"

Voldemort whipped around shock and fury on his face _"Crucio!"_

Harry screamed in pain his tired body almost ripping apart, the spell was lifted moments later and Harry sagged forward panting heavily.

"Maybe that will teach you to respect your betters Potter" sneered Voldemort "Perhaps I should just kill you and be done with it."

Harry just spat blood in Voldemorts general direction that had come from him biting his tongue when the cruciate hit.

Voldemort gave him an ugly look and turned back to the death eaters.

"The time has finally come for the Boy-Who-Lived to die!" he cried before turning to face Harry his wand pointed directly at Harry's forehead.

"Good bye, Harry Potter"

Harry just looked back defiantly refusing to show any fear.

Voldemort smirked a little and began the deadly spell "Avad-"

CRACK!

Voldemort spun around and saw his assembled death eaters lying around a small charred crater.

"What in-" the Dark Lord began but was abruptly stopped by a sudden bolt of lightning striking him in the chest and knocking him flying backwards of the stone platform and landing sprawled on his back a look of total shock on his pale face.

Harry too was wearing an equally shocked look and was looking around everywhere for his saviour.

Unfortunately Voldemort recovered quickly and stood back up and moved towards Harry, just as a figure in black bandages Harry recognised as Bellatrix and another death eater with a scar running along the left side of his cheek hurried forward to protect Voldemort from the unseen attacker.

However before any of them could do anything more lightning bolts rained down upon them and sent them scrambling for cover or in the case of the scarred death eater was hit dead on and fell to the floor smoking slightly.

Finally Voldemort stood once again and shrieked into the night "Enough!"

He pointed his wand at Harry and screamed out the killing curse sending the sickly green bolt of light hurtling at Harry who had no way to dodge or protect himself. He started to panic and fruitlessly tugged at the chains binding him but to no avail.

The curse was a mere metre away from Harry when several things happened at once.

A lightning bolt slammed into the ground in front of Harry and the killing curse hit it and tried to fight its way through the electricity but failed and was bounced away harmlessly into the sky. Seconds later another bolt of lightning hit the ground beside Harry and creature materialized inside of it before the electricity dispersed and a sky blue wolf was stood beside Harry, its hackles raised, its teeth bared and it was growling in Voldemorts direction.

Harry stared at the wondrous creature as every few seconds a crackle of electricity would jump around its fur and between its ears. It moved forward a little to stand in front of Harry and more small arcs of electricity fell from it and disappeared into the ground.

The remaining death eaters that were still conscious stared in shock at this creature; nothing had ever been seen like this before of that they were sure. Voldemort himself stared for at least a minute before he made a decision.

"_Avada Kadavra!"_ screamed the dark lord.

A green bolt flew at the wolf but it was ready, it gave an angry bark and a thin lightning bolt fell and hit the ground in front of it shielding the wolf from the deadly curse just as it had done moments before.

Seconds later the wolf snarled and its fur all stood on end as a bolt of lightning flew from the wolf itself and crashed into Bellatrix who was totally unprepared for such a thing to happen.

Voldemort however called to his remaining death eaters "Kill this beast! I command you!"

Soon there were many shouts of _"Avada Kadvra"_ around the courtyard but the nimble wolf proved to be too fast, it ran and jumped out of the way of every curse causing the death eaters and their lord to become increasingly more frustrated as more curse missed.

Finally the wolf skidded to a halt in front of a death eater who began to cast several curses at it all of them missing thanks to the wolfs speed, Voldemort saw this as his chance however and with the wolfs back to him he quickly cast the killing curse. However with the wolfish equivalent to a smirked the wolf vanished in a flash of lightning causing the curse to soar forwards and hit the very surprised death eater who fell backwards, dead.

Voldemort gave another shriek of fury and spun to find the wolf which was now stood waiting to the right of the stone platform. Harry was still struggling against the chains and never noticed Voldemorts focus switch from the blue wolf to himself.

Voldemort quickly signalled to Bellatrix and a few other nearby death eaters and six voices all cried _"Avada Kadvra!"_ all at once.

The wolf prepared itself to dodge but saw to its horror that the sickly green lights weren't heading for itself but for Harry. It gave a frightened yelp and disappeared with a crack of lightening.

Harry glanced upwards still struggling and saw green everywhere heading straight for him, his heart sank when he realised that this was it.

As Harry closed his eyes ready to feel the life wiped from him he heard a crack and saw a brief flash of light shine through his eyelids.

Opening his eyes he saw the blue wolf standing on front of him, it took a breath and then raised its head to the sky and gave a long loud howl that echoed all around the courtyard.

A rumble was heard and seconds before the killing curses made contact a huge bolt of lightning fell from the sky and hit the wolf and Harry but rather than disappearing as quickly as it had arrived the stream of electricity continued, from sky to ground it surrounded the two for several seconds. Harry felt a small amount of pain from the electricity but it was nothing he couldn't endure that would have gave him pause for thought if he hadn't been witnessing six killing curses being deflected all at once in front of him.

The final curse hit the lightning and the bolt disappeared just as there was a loud crashing sound and the wolf was blasted backwards and landed in heap on a patch of grass a few yards away from where Harry was chained.

Harry whipped his head around to look at the wolf and saw something the made his heart stop.

Lying where the wolf should have been was the bushy haired form of Hermione, blood visibly running down her face. She wasn't moving.

Harry breathing stopped, it couldn't be right. He hadn't just lost Hermione. He hadn't, he wouldn't.

Harry's vision clouded, his pupils shrank and were replaced with a deep angry purple that filled his eyes. Black scales formed around his body and spiny bat like wings erupted from his back as his whole body began to grow.

Voldemort sneered at the woman who had just recently been a wolf. That was one problem dealt with. He turned to finish Harry Potter and stopped dead, this seriously couldn't be happening.

Where Harry had been, there was now a black creature. It was several feet high and Voldemort recognised two large wings protruding from it. It continued to grow until a leg reached out of the black mass and slammed into the ground with a clawed foot causing the already strained chain around it to break into pieces, three other legs followed and then came a long spike ridden tail that swished around cutting and smashing up the ground and stone walls where it made contact.

Once the creature was at least thirty feet high it stopped growing and a reptilian head reared up on a long neck, there were several black spikes around the heads crown and back of its head as well as one white spike that instead of going backwards away from its head it was bent forward and was shaped like a bolt of lightning.

Voldemort stood in complete and total shock as the huge dragon stared down at him with two bright pupil less purple eyes.

A second passed as purple stared into red then the dragon roared, a long loud furious roar that cracked the surviving fortress windows and several stone walls.

Voldemort was shocked out of his dazed and was about to cast a curse at the beast when it opened its fang filled mouth and let loose a torrent of fire straight at him.

Voldemorts red eyes widened in fear and he quickly apparated out of harm's way reappearing several feet away to the dragons right. He decided to use this opportunity to try to curse the dragon again but was suddenly knocked flying by a blow from the dragons flailing tail.

He landed hard and saw that his entire right side had been cut up due to the dragon's scales and spikes. The dragon was let loose another jet of fire and set the fortress ablaze as it smashed its clawed feet into the ground, ripping up the earth.

Voldemort quickly apparated out of the way of another jet of fire and then looked around for any of his remaining followers, all he saw were bodies of now dead death eaters the surviving ones having fled.

Quickly trying to think of a plan Voldemort suddenly saw the dragon's tail heading for him once again and erected a hasty shield but was till knocked of his feet and landed several feet way. Seeing that the dragon was now completely out of control he made the decision to retreat and dissapparated.

Harry didn't know what was going on; all he knew was that Hermione was gone. He didn't know he had transformed into his full dragon form. He didn't know he was currently destroying Voldemorts fortress. He didn't know Voldemort had left. All he knew was that he was hurt and angry and that he couldn't take it anymore.

Hermione however was roused as the earth beneath her shook. She wearily pulled herself into a sitting position and looked around in confusion. She saw a lot of broken walls and cracked and smashed earth as well as several major fires. She could also feel the earth shaking beneath her and heard a furious roar.

She put her hand to her head and felt where she had hit her head when she had been knocked back. She groggily looked around for her wand but saw something else instead that made her mind start working immediately.

A huge black dragon was rampaging only yards away from her. She tried to remember what had happened when a small crackle of electricity jumped between her finger tips and it all rushed back. She remembered her teleporting and her transformation as well as her conversation with her inner animal. It had told her it was a Raiju, something she had never heard of before but had helped her to control her new body as she got used to it. She also remembered her fight with Voldemort and his death eaters and that she had managed to stop them from hitting Harry with the killing curse.

Harry! The dragon must be Harry, she thought to herself. He was going berserk but why? It didn't matter, all that mattered was she stopped him.

She shakily got to her feet and tried to steady herself but the combination between her blow to the head and the unsteady earth made standing up impossible for her.

She desperately looked around for help but saw nothing until something occurred to her.

"Can you help?" she whispered to herself.

"_Of course"_

Hermione suddenly disappeared in a flash of lightening and reappeared right next to the great dragon's foot; she threw herself onto one of its clawed toes and disappeared once again taking the huge black dragon with her.

Breakfast in the great hall at Hogwarts was a subdued affair for most in attendance as no new news had been brought forth regarding Harry Potter or Hermione Granger. The Headmaster was looking grim as he stared at the enchanted ceiling lost in thought. The other teachers tried to act as normally as possible with the exception of Snape who looked very ill. Professor Ignis was currently thinking about how best to approach Neville Longbottom when a loud crack sounded somewhere outside followed by a thunderous roar. He exchanged a quick glance with the Headmaster before flaming out onto the front steps; he was quickly joined by the Headmaster and the teachers as well as many students.

The all stared in absolute disbelief at the great black dragon that was currently had one foot inside a Herbology greenhouse. It turned to face the Hogwarts inhabitants before letting out a jet of flame straight at them.

Albus Dumbledore had never cast a spell quicker in his life.

Authors Note

So finally another update, I've been trying get this done for a while now but with all my University assignments to be handed in I've not had much time. But now I've got a month of for xmas so another update shouldn't be too far behind, hopefully.

As ever thank you for all your reviews, please keep them coming. I hope I haven't lost any of you with such a long wait.

LoveBassClarinet: thanks for the kind words and advice, I've tried to implement what you said in this chapter but I'm not sure how successful I've been. Hope you continue to enjoy.

To everyone that was guessing at Hermione's form now you know, hope you like it. Yes Nev has a form too but I'm not telling what it is yet.


	14. Chapter 14

Fire slammed against the conjured water that now enveloped the front doors of Hogwarts.

The headmasters hand shook slightly at the impact as he struggled to maintain his shield; it felt much more powerful than a normal flame.

"Everyone inside now!" he commanded as Professors McGonagall and Flitwick moved forward to add their own shields against the almost unceasing stream of fire.

Jericho meanwhile flamed away from the other staff and appeared to the dragons right, he quickly had to jump backwards to land a few metres away as a clawed foot stomped into the earth. He knew exactly what this dragon was, or rather who it was but why was Harry rampaging like this?

Whatever the reason he had to stop or else Hogwarts was going to be burnt to a crisp. Jericho conjured a handful of flame and lobbed at the dragons flank, it hit but it might as well have been a feather for all the good it did. The still thrashing dragon didn't even notice the flames hit its back leg and then disperse.

In fact it was still trying to get through the headmaster and teachers shields, and was steadily succeeding.

Jericho noticed this and made a decision. He ran forward and stood in front of the massive dragon and started waving his arms around.

"Over here!" he yelled "Look down dammit"

Jericho started jumping up and down to as well as sending small flames into the air, this it seemed did the trick as the dragon abruptly switched its focus from the front steps and onto Jericho breathing fire straight down on him with barely a break between the two breaths.

Jericho had absolutely no time to react before he was completely engulfed in white hot flames. Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall and Flitwick watched in horror as their colleague and fast becoming friend was blocked from view by the scorching fire.

Dumbledore moved quickly down the steps and towards the dragon intent on doing something to save his Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher but before he could formulate a plan the inferno was let up and the crouching figure of Jericho Ignis was revealed.

Dumbledore stared for a few seconds before calling out in a surprisingly powerful voice "Jericho, are you ok!"

Jericho fell back onto his rear and sat on the scorched grass and shook his head.

"That stung abit…" he mumbled then heard the headmaster calling out to him "I'm fine Professor!" he yelled back "I'm fire proof remember" he added with a grin.

Dumbledore's face relaxed slightly into a small smile but he quickly diverted his attention back to the main problem.

Jericho took a few seconds to cool down before jumping to his feet and readying himself for another round with Harry's fire.

Both Dumbledore and Jericho circled the great dragon slowly. It seemed that Jericho's survival had confused the dragon; its instincts told it that the man should be dead after being hit dead on with its flames but there he was stalking around its massive black body clearly very much alive.

The two Professors that were stood on the school steps were looking on in something akin to disbelief. Not only had a gigantic dragon appeared out of nowhere and started rampaging but Professor Ignis had been hit by dragon fire, something every witch and wizard worth their wand knew was one of the most destructive forces known to man, and stand back up as if he'd simply tripped over.

Professor McGonagall started forwards slowly her wand raised but was quickly stopped by a look from the Headmaster, he shook his head slightly and gestured for her to stay where she was for the moment. McGonagall nodded and poised herself ready to cast at a seconds notice.

Jericho and Dumbledore moved towards each other slowly and stopped when they were within earshot of each other, their eyes fixed on the dragon ready to act.

"Do you have any idea what's causing Harry to act this way Jericho?" Dumbledore asked in an undertone.

"Glad you worked out it was him, and yes I do have a theory actually" Jericho replied.

"Go on"

"Look behind Harry, near the greenhouse wall, see her?"

Albus's eyes widened when he spotted what Jericho was talking about. Hermione was lying on the ground not moving, either unconscious or worse.

"I see" Albus replied cursing himself for not noticing sooner "He is protecting her"

"Yes, I would go to get her but I don't know how he would react when he notices her missing" Jericho explained.

Albus looked around them trying to formulate a plan "Do you know if she is ok?" he asked quietly.

Jericho glanced at him before answering knowing what the Headmaster was asking "She's alive, I can feel the same power that I felt when the lightning struck her. However she may still be injured, possibly quite severely"

Albus nodded pleased that Hermione was, at least for now, alive.

"We still need to try and get to her" Albus said however "If Harry decides to try and attack again he could very easily injure her himself. He is not thinking at the moment, letting pure animal instinct control him and with such a large body…" he trailed off.

Jericho nodded in agreement "But how without angering him?"

Inside the castle there wasn't a window in the school that didn't have a student pressed up against it. When ordered back inside the school everyone from first years up to seventh years and had sprinted off in search of a window to peer awe struck through.

The Gryffindor tower was fortunate to be on the side of the castle that the dragon was currently attacking.

"How the hell did Professor Ignis survive that!" Seamus asked in shock.

"Dunno, he must have used some spell or another" replied Dean.

"Why do you think its attacking us?" asked a first year with a sniffle.

"I don't think its attacking us, it's just got lost and got startled" replied a seventh year wisely.

"Where do you reckon it came from?"

"You think they'll have to kill it?"

"Has someone told the ministry!"

"What about the greenhouses?"

Questions were being thrown around all over the school with very little answers being thrown back.

Neville was currently staring out of a first floor window alongside a couple of other students who got to the window at the same time as him.

The two other students were doing the same as everyone else and wondering what was going on and what was going to happen. Neville however hadn't spoke at all and was staring transfixed at a point slightly right of the dragons back foot, desperately trying to see it a little clearer.

Outside Jericho and Dumbledore had decided on a plan. They would try to get to Hermione and wake her so that that Harry could see that she was fine and this would hopefully calm him down.

Jericho moved in front of the dragon as a distraction, this seemed safer due to him being fire proof. The headmaster waited until Jericho had gained Harrys attention before slowly moving towards the prone form of Hermione. However before he was anywhere near her she started to stir. Albus froze and glanced at Jericho to see if he had noticed, he had and looked very worried as Hermione slowly raised herself up.

In the castle Neville watched as the thing he had been staring at started to move and then get up, he gasped and then his eyes snapped to the dragons face before he let out a loud curse before sprinting off thoroughly confusing the two students that had been at the window with him.

Hermione unsteadily got to her feet and swayed a little, she was getting very fed up of waking up like this. She looked around blearily not really taking in what she was seeing but she couldn't really miss the massive sight of Hogwarts even though it was obstructed by something quite large but she would worry about that later when her head didn't hurt so much.

She set off slowly towards the castle rubbing her head.

Jericho froze and Albus tried vainly to try and signal towards Hermione but she was too disorientated to notice. Who knows how the massive angry dragon would react to someone strolling out from beneath it.

Hermione got level with the dragons head before she was noticed. The reptilian head suddenly jerked downwards as it caught movement below it, it's bright purple eyes narrowed in anger at this apparent sneak attack. It raised a clawed foot and grabbed Hermione and held her face down onto the grass muffling her attempts to scream.

"Albus!" Jericho exclaimed "he can't see her face, he doesn't know its her!"

The Headmaster knew this and raised his wand to attempt to rescue her but Jericho's shout seemed to have reminded the dragon about their presence and it shot a burst of flame at the pair who dove to the ground with hasty shield erected.

The dragon kept blasting them eventually breaking through the shield causing Jericho to place himself between the inferno and the Headmaster.

"Thank you my friend" Albus gasped.

Jericho grimaced before falling forwards onto his hands and knees gasping for breath.

"I can't keep doing that" he panted "I'm using too much magic"

The Headmaster was slightly confused but nodded before turning his attention back to Hermione.

Professors McGonagall and Flitwick were watching in horror. The had seen Hermione walk out from beneath the dragon and be held to the floor before their colleagues were once again assaulted with flame. They wished they could do something but they didn't know what. The other Professors were keeping the students safe and Severus was still recovering from his recent visit to You-Know-Who and therefore useless.

Minerva McGonagall took her duty to her students very seriously, in fact it was of the highest importance in her life and it was this that fuelled her next decision to start sprinting at the dragon in hopes of distracting it from Miss Granger long enough for her to be rescued.

She was halfway down the lawns when the dragon looked back down at its captive and readied another volley of flame that would surely finish off the girl held between its claws.

Minerva knew what was going to happen and sped up as much as she could and drew breath in order to shout out at the beast but before she had chance to do anything more a figure over took her sprinting towards the dragon.

She looked on with wide eyes as she recognised the figure and stopped still in pure shock, something she would later curse herself for.

Albus also saw the figure and looked on in astonishment and surprisingly, pride. Jericho gave a small smile before collapsing in exhaustion.

The dragon was seconds away from opening its mouth and roasting Hermione when a voice rented the air.

"HARRY NO!"

The dragon whipped its head around ready to attack but was promptly hit by the most ferocious blast of wind that anyone had ever seen. The force was so strong in fact that it started moving the dragon backwards, the winds then caught in its massive wings and picked up the massive black dragon and threw it backwards into the forbidden forest with enough force to knock down the trees that it had come into contact with.

Luckily in it's surprise the dragon had let go of Hermione who was quickly joined by Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore. Having made sure that she wasn't in any immediate danger Albus turned to look at their very unexpected saviour and smiled.

Neville however didn't smile back, he was still in the same position he had been when he had shouted. His arms thrown up as if to say stop, his eyes wide and his mouth open, staring at the now unconscious dragon laying almost thirty feet from where it had started.

He eventually dropped his arms down to his sides and moved his gaze onto the headmaster.

"H-how did that just happen?" he asked.

About an hour later Hermione woke up feeling very groggy once again. At least this time she was lying on a comfortable bed rather than hard earth.

She rolled over and saw that Harry was lying in the bed next to hers. She briefly wondered what they were both doing there before she remembered their ordeal and made to get up and out of bed.

As if sensing this entirely unhealthy behaviour Madam Pomfrey emerged from her office before Hermione had even thrown back the covers.

"Miss Granger what are you doing?" she asked curtly.

"Is Harry OK?" Hermione asked in return still slowly getting out of bed, she felt very battered and bruised.

Madam Pomfrey swept forward and lay Hermione back down on the soft pillows.

"He's fine, just needs some rest. The same as you." the nurse explained in a forceful voice.

Hermione sighed with relief and turned her head to look at Harry, he had a few scratches and bruises but looked to be sleeping soundly.

She lay and watched him sleep for another half an hour, dozing in and out of consciousness all the while before she was jerked awake by the infirmary doors opening with a loud creak.

"My apologies Poppy" a voice Hermione recognised as the headmasters said "I shall silence this door immediately"

Madam Pomfrey huffed as the headmaster cast a silencing charm at the offending door.

He then turned and saw Hermione watching him.

"Ah Miss Granger I'm glad you are back with us" the Headmaster said while seating himself on a stool between Harry and Hermione's beds.

Hermione smiled slightly before asking "What happened?"

"Actually I was hoping you could tell me" said the headmaster "All I know is that a rather angry dragon appeared during breakfast this morning"

Hermione frowned for a moment trying to recall everything that had happened over the past day or so, she remembered finding herself at Voldemorts lair and that was it but then a soft voice spoke in her mind.

"_Take your time_" it said in amusement.

"You!" Hermione exclaimed suddenly.

"Me?" Albus asked in surprise, Hermione's outburst making him jump.

"No sorry Headmaster" Hermione amended "I mean well...I just remembered what happened and...who helped me"

"Go on" the headmaster urged.

Hermione was silent for a moment before she decided on her answer "It was me who helped me, or rather another me"

Anyone else would have been confused by this strange explanation but not Albus Dumbledore he just smiled and replied as though this was an answer to a question in class.

"Ah yes, your animagus form"

Hermione nodded "How did you-"

"Professor Ignis sensed you power before you disappeared. He explained that the shock and pain of having Harry took away from you in such a violent manner jolted your powers awake"

Hermione nodded slightly at this "Yes but it was more than that I think. She took over, she spoke to me in my mind and said she would help and I let her"

"It is a good thing that your other self was just as concerned about Harry as you were" Dumbledore said his eyes twinkling "If I may ask, what IS your animagus form?"

"Something called a Raiju" Hermione replied making Albus gasped softly "She told me all about herself, or rather myself, as we were running to help Harry. I've never heard of a Raiju before but I caught sight of myself in a window and she looks very beautiful"

"My word" Albus breathed "The Raiju was once a rare but not unknown sight in Japan, it is said that the earliest mages of Japan would summon the Raiju with gifts of cherry's and ask them to create rain clouds in order to keep crops from dying. They were thought to have been extinct for at least seven hundred years."

Hermione stared at her reflection in the water jug next to her bed wide eyed. She had something so special somewhere inside her and she had never known. She looked over at Harry still fast asleep, it was because of him that her special power had awoke. She smiled at that thought.

Suddenly a thought struck Hermione and she cursed herself for not thinking of it earlier.

"Professor, what happened to Harry?" Hermione asked with urgency "I remember bringing him back to Hogwarts but he was rampaging in his dragon form, and I admit now I think about it this wasn't the best place to bring him but at the time..."

"I doubt you had much time to think about such things Hermione" the Headmaster said soothingly "Besides I can't think of anywhere else you could have taken him"

Hermione nodded relieved a little but voiced her other worries "But what about when we got here? He didn't hurt anyone did her?"

The headmaster smiled "No he did not. He seemed very intent on protecting you, and although there were a few close calls there was no real harm done"

Hermione sank back onto her pillows before another question popped into her head but before she could ask it the hospital wing door opened and Professor Ignis and Neville walked in.

Jericho looked very tired Hermione noticed and Neville looked a little odd too but she couldn't place why at the moment. She also noticed Jericho and Professor Dumbledore exchange a look at Neville and then a quick nod from Jericho.

"I'm glad you're awake Hermione" Jericho said.

"How're you feeling?" asked Neville

"Fine" she smiled "are you both OK?"

"Never better" came the reply from Jericho but only a small nod from Neville.

"I was just about to ask when you two came in, how did you calm Harry down?" Hermione asked looking at the Headmaster and then Jericho.

"Don't look at us" Jericho said with a smirk.

Dumbledore chuckled a little "Yes, it was mister Longbottom here that successfully calmed Harry"

Hermione stared and Neville looked at his feet.

"But...how?" Hermione puzzled looking at her shy friend.

Dumbledore gave a small sigh before beginning to explain "I just want you to realise that Harry had no idea who anyone was or what was going on. All he knew was that you had both arrived at Hogwarts and you had passed out next to the greenhouses and he was going to make sure you were safe."

"I assume his initial transformation was caused by seeing you in danger?" Jericho asked.

Hermione nodded her head solemnly "I think so yes"

"Well I think that when you transported Harry here he didn't really comprehend what had happened" Jericho explained "He probably thought you were both still at Voldemorts hideaway and was still ready for any threat, anyway you did wake up at one point and started moving towards the castle."

Hermione frowned, she did not remember that.

"You were probably concussed quite badly at that point as you didn't seem to notice the massive dragon above you. Anyway you startled Harry, suddenly appearing form beneath him and all and well he grabbed you"

Neville winced a little at this but didn't look up from his shoes.

"Neville ran out and stopped Harry from doing any more than that. He sent Harry flying and knocked him out" Jericho finished.

After a second of silence Hermione spoke up "yes, but how?"

"I'm an Awakened Animagus" came Neville's small voice "Professor Ignis just explained to me"

"Wow..." Hermione breathed. She didn't really know how to react, on the one hand it was an amazing thing to find out and in many ways was wonderful but on the other hand thanks to ministry laws it could be a very dangerous thing to be.

Just then Harry stirred. He groaned and put a hand to his head, everyone turned to look at him just as Neville proclaimed "I need to go" and fled out the infirmary doors.

Harry blinked a couple of times and finally his eyes found focus. He looked around the room once before his eyes landed on Hermione.

Harry instantly sprang up and out of bed and raced across to her bed and threw his arms around her.

"Harry what-" Hermione exclaimed but was cut off at the sound of her boyfriend sobbing into her shoulder.

"I'm so sorry Hermione" Harry breathed "I'm sorry"

* * *

Authors Note

Sorry about such a long wait. Hope you can forgive me. Some real world stuff went off.

Hope I haven't lost any of you.


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